


It Takes Three

by Helthehatter



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Adventure, Betrayal, Domestic, F/M, Mystery, Night Howlers, Plot Twist, Sequel, Wedding, it takes three, mistunderstandings, tame collars, wildehopps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 06:16:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 32
Words: 62,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12881919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Helthehatter/pseuds/Helthehatter
Summary: The sequel to A Tail of Two: When the Night Howler threat rises again brand new couple Nick and Judy race against time to stop it. But when past demons come to haunt them they wonder if they're strong enough to solve the case and stay together.





	1. The New Transfer

Prolouge:

 

            A mother sugar glider crouched under her baby’s crib, holding her sniffling daughter to her chest as she heard ferocious banging and snarls at the front door.

Someone was trying to break in.

She had come to wish her daughter good night when she heard the noises, keeping her from her room where her phone sat.

She flinched as she heard the door being torn off its hinges and the sound of paws.

            “Where is she,” a growl-y voice snapped and the sugar glider shuddered.

“Find her,” a deeper voice ordered, “Tear up the place while you’re at it. The boss said leave nothing unscathed.”

Her eyes widened upon hearing those words. This wasn’t a random break in, she was being hunted.

She heard crashes and shattering as the intruders ransacked her home, she looked around nervously. It wouldn’t take long for them to find her in here…find her and her child.

            She slipped out from under the crib and hurried to the closet, placing her whimpering daughter into a hamper and wrapping clothes around her, soothing her until she quieted down, shutting the door to a crack, her baby didn’t like the dark.

And then the mother stepped into the center of the room and waited just as she heard a body slam into a door.

            The young daughter listened quietly as she heard snarling and grown ups talking, a small struggle, and then fading footsteps, and then there was silence.

She waited for her mother to return and tuck her into bed but no one came as time ticked away and she got more and more sleepy.

“Mama…” she whispered sadly as she curled into a ball, “Mama…”

.

Judy’s heart pounded wildly against her ribs, her eyes sealed shut and ears laid back. She stayed perfectly still; trying to make her breath shallow to cast the illusion she was asleep. Then a growling rumbled through the room.

He was here.

            She felt hot breath against her fur and she braced herself ready to bolt, she then felt a nuzzle against the small of her back.

She kicked out and tried to move to the left to escape but then felt a paw on her arm and she was pulled back on the bed and onto her back.

She let out a yelp that quickly broke into laughter as her face and neck were smothered with kisses.

“N-Nick,” she laughed, trying and failing to push him off her, “ _Stop_!”

The fox snickered against her neck before running his paws over his girlfriend’s ribs, tickling her.

Judy laughed harder, tears coming to her eyes as she reached out and tickled his neck, causing him to laugh along with her. A minute later the two forfeited and laid entangled, catching their breath, smiles making their mouths ache.

“You-you’re trying to distract me,” Judy accused light-heartedly.

“Heh,” Nick smirked. “What makes you say that, Carrots? Why would I keep us from getting out of bed earlier than usual to jog in the freezing cold?”

She rolled her eyes, “I already told you, you didn’t have to come. Clawhauser and I can jog by ourselves.”

 “And trust that cheetah to defend you against whatever early morning freaks you run into. No thanks.”

“I can take care of myself,” she assured.

“You can’t kick every weirdo you meet in the face.”

Judy gasped, “I wouldn’t!”

            On the bedside table her phone buzzed with a message and she slipped out of Nick’s arms to check her new message.

“Clawhauser’s waiting,” she told the fox, jumping out of bed to grab her jacket. They were both already outfitted in jogging clothes, “Let’s go.”

Nick let out a suffering sigh before dragging himself off the bed and following her.

 

.

 

            Clawhauser was at the park already when they arrived, also decked out in jogging gear and wearing earphones. Judy could hear Gazelle blasting through them.

“Sorry we’re late,” Judy apologized, Nick trailing after her with little enthusiasm.

“WHAT?” Clawhauser yelled, making Judy jump and Nick to lean back.

“Oh,” the cheetah gasped and pulled out the earphones, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Judy replied, “Ready to run?”

He nodded enthusiastically, “Oh, yeah I’m ready to lose all this baggage-” he patted his stomach- “And get super ripped to where no one will recognize me!”

            But despite Clawhauser’s earnest it didn’t take long for him to become a panting, sweaty mess. Nick wasn’t fairing much better.

Meanwhile Judy was always a few feet ahead of them even when she tried to slow down for them to catch up.  “Come on, boys,” she called after them over her shoulder, “One foot after another.” She then tried singing for motivation: “I won’t give up; I won’t give in until I reach the end AND THEN I’LL START AGAIN!”

“START AGAIN,” Nick gasped in horror as Clawhauser tried to sing along between gasps.

“It’s just a song, sweetie,” she called over her shoulder.

It was then she noticed a figure jogging after them, he passed Nick and Clawhauser effortlessly and she saw it was a white-tailed deer.

He came up to her side and offered her a friendly smile with a challenging gleam in his eyes as he ran ahead. Judy glanced behind her, Nick, reading her expression, shooed her onward. She immediately put on a burst of speed, racing after the deer.

He blinked in surprise when she caught up to him then grinned before continuing down the track, Judy doing her best to keep up.

But then a turn came up ahead and Judy nearly went off the path, forced to skid to a halt. The deer slowed down for a moment, checking to make sure she was alright, before nodding to her and continuing his run.

            Judy stood; catching her breath and watching him go while Nick and Clawhauser reached her side.

Nick rested his chin atop her head; practically leaning against her while Clawhauser placed his paws on his knees and looked like he was ready to faint.

“Aw,” Judy cooed, looking at her two friends in sympathy. She patted Nick’s cheek, “How about I buy you boys some celebratory donuts?”

“I love you,” Nick wheezed, “But I think this is it.”

He fell to the ground, “Tell mother I’m sorry…and-and tell Bogo the key is under my chair.”

“What key?” Judy asked while Clawhauser fell down onto his back.

But Nick already had his eyes closed, his tongue lolling from the side of his mouth.

Judy rolled her eyes fondly.

 

.

 

            After feasting on morning donuts and cleaning up the three friends arrived at the precinct, fresh-faced and in uniform.

“See you after work,” Clawhauser waved at them as he headed to his desk.

Judy and Nick headed to the bull-pin where they sat in their usual seat. When Bogo finally walked into the room a familiar mammal followed after him. Judy’s jaw went slack when he passed her, it was that deer!

But now he was wearing a ZPD uniform. She looked to Nick who recognized him as well if his expression was anything to go by.

            “Everyone, we have a new transfer,” Bogo commanded the room’s attention with his booming voice.

“This is Officer Aaron Ronno all the way from Evergreen City. He’s here to help us with any and all assignments and cases and I expect _all_ of you to behave and not embarrass our department.” Despite the emphasis on ‘all’ Bogo’s eyes never left Nick who just smirked.

Aaron followed the chief’s glare, his own eyes widening when he spotted Judy who waved.

The deer was placed on the table opposite of Judy and Nick, his back straight and completely professional as Bogo assigned duties to the crew.

Nick and Judy were assigned to Central Square where vandalism had been going rapid.

But before they made it out of the building Aaron hurried over to them, “Wait, wait!”

The two stopped in surprise, the deer’s eyes were wide with excitement.

“You’re Judy Hopps!” he declared, pointing at her then to Nick, “And you’re Nick Wilde!”

“Yes, yes we are,” Nick replied, looking around warily as if he expected the deer to turn on them.

“I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you at the park,” Aaron buried his face in his hooves. “And I’m such a big fan!”

Judy smiled, “Are you?”

He looked down at her like he thought she was joking, “Of course, I heard all about your Night Howler case and then you turned around and solved the Ironclaw case as well. You two are amazing!”

He shut his mouth quickly, suddenly looking mortified, “And now I’m being weird I am so sorry.”

“That’s fine,” Nick stepped forward, “But let’s get to our assignments, we have a duty to protect and serve.”

Aaron saluted him, “Yes, sir!” and then he hurried off.

“Sir?” Nick echoed, pulling on his collar with a proud look.

Judy laughed, “He’s cute. But don’t let that hero worshipping get to your head.”

She took his paw and gave it a soft squeeze, “Let’s go protect and serve.”

 

 


	2. Maternal Instinct

As the duo drove to Central Square Judy wondered if they would end up catching any gangsters.

“Maybe a tiger covered in piercings?” she thought aloud. “Or a rough and tough honey badger with a deep, gravely voice.” She had lowered her own voice at the last three words.

“Carrots, I hate to break it to ya,” Nick interjected, “But odds are the only vandals we’ll find are a pack of preteens trying to be ‘edgy’.” Judy frowned but then looked at the fox slyly, “Nick?”  “Hm?”  “Were you ever edgy as a kid?”

His jaw dropped, “What are you insinuating, Fluff?”

“I just can’t see you being a quiet teenager who kept his nose clean.”

“Never said I was,” Nick replied, “But it’s seriously hurtful you would assume the truth. I thought we were friends.”  “You’re right, Nick,” she smiled, “I apologize.”             They drove in silence for a few minutes before Nick turned to her, “Is there a reason you want to catch pierced tigers and deep-voiced badgers?”

“You saw right through me, huh?”

“I know my bunny.”

Judy tapped the steering wheel with her fingers, “I’ve just been thinking…it’s been a year since the Ironclaw case and I think we’re ready to be detectives. Or at least prove that we’re ready.”

Nick looked at her, “You’re always so ambitious, Carrots.”

“That’s a good thing,” Judy said.

“Yeah but there’s a fine line between ambitious and reckless,” Nick reminded her.

Judy knew that, and she wasn’t asking for something as dangerous as the Ironclaw case, just something big enough to prove she was ready to Bogo, even if it was just a random theft.

Judy opened her mouth to tell Nick this when they turned a corner and immediately hit a traffic jam.

            Her brow furrowed hearing the cars honk angrily, something was blocking the way.

“Take the wheel, Nick,” Judy told him, “I’ll be right back.”

She jumped out of the car and slid between the vehicles, ignoring Nick who called her back. The thing blocking the road was the last thing she had expected.

            It was a baby sugar glider.

She had deep brown fur and was wearing only a diaper, her blue eyes big and moist as she stared at the loud cars, looking like she would start crying.

Judy glared at the angry drivers before slowing walking over to the baby, not wanting to startle her and have her running off.

“Come here, sweetie,” she spoke in the reassuring tone she used with her younger siblings. She kneeled down next to the sugar glider who stared up at her with giant eyes. Slowly she crept forward to Judy’s offered paw, climbing onto her palm. Judy stood up and held the baby to her heart, she was shivering but her fur was warm so it wasn’t that she was cold. Those blue eyes stared up at her and Judy’s heart went out to the poor baby. She reminded her of all her little siblings and cousins, nieces and nephews. Judy walked back to the patrol car while the cars started to move now that the baby was out of the way.

            Nick stared in horror as Judy climbed back into the driver’s seat, the baby snuggled in her arm.

“You were gone for thirty seconds, Carrots,” Nick stared at the baby. “Thirty seconds!”

“She’s lost,” Judy told him, the little mammal had turned her big eyes on Nick. “We need to find her parents. Vandalism will have to wait.”

 “How are we going to do that?” Nick asked.

Judy offered the baby to Nick but the sugar glider started to cry when Nick reached for her. The fox frowned and dropped his paws, “She’s scared of me.”

“That’s just because she doesn’t know you,” Judy quickly assured him. She placed the sugar glider in the middle of the seat and the baby immediately scurried over to curl up at Judy’s thigh.

“But to answer your first question,” Judy continued, “City Hall of course, we have an eternal in.”

Nick rolled his eyes, knowing exactly who she was talking about.

 

.

 

            With the baby in her arms Judy walked into City Hall with Nick following behind, his paws in his pockets.

A few mammals cast them curious looks but didn’t say anything as they walked to the door that said ‘Assistant Mayor’. Judy knocked.

“Come in,” a voice called.

            Inside boxes full of paper, books, and the odd knick knack or two lay sprawled around Percy’s new office. The rabbit smiled happily at them from where he was placing a plant on his desk. “Judy! Nick! Look at this place! It’s _huge_ and has a great view and-” his smile faded when he saw the sugar glider in Judy’s arms-“And you two have a baby. Uh…” he looked to Judy then to Nick then back again. “Congratulations?”

Judy flushed when she realized his misunderstanding, “Oh, no! She’s not ours.”

Nick frowned at her; she had sounded a little _too_ frightened by the thought.

“We found her out near Central Square,” she explained, “We were hoping you could tell us who her parents are.”

Percy walked over, “I don’t know. I can try but there are a lot of sugar gliders in Zoo- Never mind I know whose daughter that is.”

Judy and Nick exchanged glanced.

“Well…that’s impressive,” Nick replied. “You have one good memory.”

“I know here because I’ve met her mother,” Percy explained, his eyes suddenly dark. “That’s Suzy, the daughter of Eleanor Sugar.”

“Eleanor Sugar?” Judy echoed.

“The scientist who created the Night Howler antidote.”


	3. Deeper

Eleanor Sugar was into the medical sciences and had created many medicines. The Night Howler was the most famous. Point being she made big money and where she lived proved that.

The Hill was a very nice very _large_ apartment complex. The distinct thing about it was that it was split in half, and each floor consisted of only two rooms parted by the elevator. And the rooms were very nice and very large, so naturally you had to be filthy rich to live there.

And Eleanor Sugar was.

            “How did Suzy get out without her mother seeing?” Nick wondered as they stepped out of the car and headed to the lobby. “And why hasn’t her mother sent in a missing mammal call?”

Judy peered up at the building, it was a grayish blue color, the sun shining on it to give it a pink cask and it looked like it was made of the smoothest metal. She then pointed at an open window, “That looks like it could be Eleanor’s floor, Percy said it was the seventh one. Maybe the little rascal glided out of the window, landed on the balcony below and kept going until she landed on the floor. As for hwy Eleanor hasn’t called in…maybe Suzy is supposed to be taking her nap and hasn’t been gone long enough for her mother to check on her.”

            The landlord was an armadillo that reminded Judy of her old landlady, but he was much snootier, giving them a pompous once over and looking like he was calculating how dirty/poor they were. But he did look surprised to see Suzy, riding atop Judy’s head, and confessed he hadn’t seen Eleanor since last night.

 “She’s usually very busy,” the armadillo told them. He led them to the elevator where they crowded in and the young sheep bellhop clicked on the seventh button. “She’s a very intelligent you know, created the antidote for the Night Howler incident. Did you know that?”

 “Oh yeah,” Nick pulled his lips back in a fake grin. “We were actually the one who solved that case, believe it or not.”

“Oh, that’s why you two seemed so familiar,” he said, looking them up and down again. His eyes stayed on Judy, “But weren’t you the one who told everyone the predators’ biology was to blame.”

 “Here we are,” the sheep suddenly spoke a little too loudly. Clearly he had felt the sudden tension in the air despite not seeing Judy’s shocked expression and Nick’s glare.

The elevator doors (one on the right and one on the left) slid open in unison. The landlord pointed to the right and the two cops and sugar glider instantly exited the elevator.

The doors slid close with a ding and Nick turned around and snarled, “Unbelievable!”

“Don’t worry about it, Nick,” Judy told him, walking down the hall. It was carpeted in a blue that matched the outer paint of the building, the right wall was a ceiling to floor window that overlooked Central Square; it was a beautiful view.

“No, I am going to worry about it,” Nick grumbled as they walked down the hall, Eleanor’s door being at the end. “That-that-!”

“Nick, there’s a baby present,” Judy warned. Suzy snuggled into the rabbit’s shoulder. “Think about something else.”

“This entire building is unnecessary,” Nick growled, “Its cut in half so a bunch of rich freaks can have an entire floor to themselves? Why don’t they just _buy_ an _actual_ house? I swear, Carrots, it’s almost like we’re in some lazy crime/romance story and the writer doesn’t know what they’re doing!”

He stared up at the ceiling, “Almost…”

            They turned the corner then, ready to knock and return Suzy home, but the door was already open. Judy stopped seeing the door had been kicked off its hinges, she could see inside and it looked like a tornado had gone through. Furniture was flipped over, the TV was smashed, clothes, books, and toys strewn around the room.

Before Judy could see more Nick grabbed her and pulled her away, his grip on her shoulder tight. He was staring at the door with wide eyes, his entire body wound up like a spring.

 “Eleanor could be in there,” Judy hissed, scared to raise her voice.

“So could the mammals that did that,” Nick shot back, just as quiet. “We need to call it in.”

“Mama!” Suzy called, trying to jump off Judy’s shoulder and run into the room. Judy quickly grabbed the baby and held the squirming child to her chest. “Mama! Mama!”

 

.

 

            They had called in the Forensics team before they entered Eleanor’s home. The living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedrooms were destroyed. Everything toppled over, and damaged beyond repair. Judy had asked if they could find any paw prints but they believed the intruders had used gloves, but they would keep looking.

It at first seemed like it was simple but very violent vandalism. But the more Judy stared at the refrigerator where the food had been knocked down and then they shelves roughly and the closets scattered with torn clothing and opened boxes and she couldn’t help but think the intruders were looking for something.

            She now stood in Suzy’s room. The crib had been flipped, the drawers open and clothes thrown; even her toy box had been ransacked.

“How did you manage to escape?” Judy looked down at the baby who was still saying calling for her mother, but now her voice had gone quiet and sad, as if she knew her mother wasn’t coming back.

“I guess she hid,” Nick answered as he walked into the room and stood at her side, his tail wrapping around her for comfort. “They must’ve gotten Eleanor in here; they didn’t thoroughly trash this room like the rest of the apartment. And when they left she sneaked out of the window.”

She looked up at him, “They?”

“I just can’t believe only one mammal was able to do this much damage. I also can’t believe no one heard anything, this place is completely destroyed.”

“The walls are too thick,” Judy looked at the ceiling as if she could see the family upstairs. “No one wanted to suffer noisy neighbors. I was always comforted by it, tired, but comforted.”

            Suzy suddenly started to wiggle and wail, Judy tired to rock her but the baby wasn’t comforted.

“She must be hungry,” Judy realized, “I’m going to try and find her formula.”

Judy walked out of the bedroom but Nick stayed put, looking around the room. There was something nagging him in the back of his brain that he couldn’t place and it was driving him crazy. He spotted something under the drawer and knelt, seeing it was a rattle. The color of gold with blue stripes, he shrugged and picked it up.

He found Judy out in the hall, feeding Suzy a bottle of milk.

 “One of the forensics found the formula and her bottle in the kitchen,” she informed him, not taking her eyes off the baby. “And I…I didn’t want to keep her in there.”

Nick nodded, taking noticing how Judy’s eyes were shimmering with affection. He lifted the rattle for Suzy to see and shook it gently, the baby’s eyelids lowered in contentment.

Judy suddenly giggled and Nick looked at her. “What is it?”

“She just reminded me of you for a second,” she smiled up at him. “Your eyes droop like that when you give me _The Look_.”

“ _The Look_?”

Yes, the one where your eyes droop and you smile lazily and think you look all charming and irresistible. You gave me _The Look_ when we first met, when I threatened you with tax evasion, when we were at the Mystic Spring Oasis, the DMV, and every place after. You have given me _The Look_ for as long as I’ve known you Nicholas Wilde and it never has and never will work on me.”

“First off,” Nick began, “I think I’m charming and irresistible because I _am_. Second, you of all mammals _definitely_ can not resist _The Look_.

To prove his point his eyes dropped and he smiled lazily but it only made Judy roll her eyes, “Still not working.”

Nick dropped _The Look_ and leaned against the hall’s wall while the Forensics’ team finished up.

 Judy looked up at the ceiling, “Isn’t there any surveillance cameras?”

Nick followed her look, “Yeah, you and me can go down and check it out when the Department of Family and Cubs Services get here.”

 Judy stared up at him in surprise, “What?”

Nick frowned at her, his brow furrowed, “Judy, you know the baby can’t stay with us.”  Judy held Suzy closer, “But she needs to be taken care of!”

“She will be, Judy, you know that. The Department is where she _needs_ to be. She’ll be taken care of until Eleanor is found.”

Judy’s ears drooped and she gazed down at Suzy with a melancholy look in her eyes but Nick knew she wasn’t going to argue with him.

“She was taken, wasn’t she?” Judy breathed, “And it’s because of the Night Howlers.”

“Yeah,” Nick replied, “I think so.”

 “Don’t worry, Suzy,” she told the little sugar glider. “We’ll get your Mama back. Won’t we, Nick?”

Nick nodded and winked at the baby, “You bet ya.”

 

.

 

            Judy stood in the lobby, watching as the jaguar from the Department carried Suzy out to her car, the baby was now asleep, and clutching her little rattle like it was a doll. Judy swallowed past the lump in her throat; she would be fine, especially after she got her mother back.

Nick was standing behind the lobby counter with the landlord and a tiger from the Forensics. The three were studying the surveillance footage on a computer.

“By the way your cameras suck,” Nick told the armadillo as Judy walked over. “I’ve watched pirated movies with better quality, the cheap pirated too.”

Judy and the tiger looked at Nick who glared at them, “Oh, like you guys haven’t either. Next you’ll tell me you don’t download your songs illegally off the internet.”

The tiger glanced at Judy who just shook her head, a mammal was officially missing; Nick wasn’t their biggest issue.

Together the four mammals stared at the screen that showed a gritty image of Eleanor’s hall. Said sugar glider appeared on screen, carrying a bag of groceries with Suzy on her shoulder, Judy’s heart squeezed.

“She doesn’t have a father,” she asked the landlord.

The armadillo shook his head, “Her husband died three years ago.”

They turned back to the screen to see the small family walk safely into their apartment and shut the door behind them. They skipped forward so the time on the camera sped up, waiting for a figure to rush past the lens, for a paw to block it, for _something_! Just when the clock hit midnight the screen went to static.

The four stared at it, wondering if it was a glitch, before realizing that someone had cut the camera off at that exact time. The three cops turned to look at the landlord who was staring at the screen, flabbergasted. “I-I don’t understand!”

“Oh I do,” Nick growled, “Either the mammal running the surveillance at that time decided on a weird time to turn off the camera, or one of your staff had a paw in this.”

 “That’s impossible!” the armadillo nearly spat, “No mammal who works for the Hill would dare try and steal our most important resident!”

 “Obviously you don’t,” the tiger growled, staring at the static of the screen.

“Or someone was able to sneak into your surveillance room,” Judy offered.

 The tiger shook his head but spoke, “I’ll have my boys sweep it.”

“Meanwhile we need a list of all the mammals who’d have access to that room,” Judy ordered the landlord. “Like it or not but there’s a very good chance you work with the mammal who kidnapped Eleanor.”

 

 

 


	4. The Honey Episode

Nick and Judy were given a list of the mammals who had access to the surveillance room, with that list they traveled to the precinct and got a hold of the files of the listed mammals, trying to figure out who would help with a crime.

It was now morning and they had…nothing.

            “I refuse to believe not one of these mammals did something wrong in their entire lives,” Judy said for the umpteenth time, rubbing her dry eyes.

“Well, I believe,” Nick was lying his head on their desk, stacks of wrinkled files under his chin, his blood shot eyes were open wide as if that was the only thing keeping him awake.

“Carrots, these suspects are so squeaky clean I think you could actually eat off them. I could go outside right now and find a toddler with a bigger criminal record.”

Judy sighed tiredly, thinking he was right. But then she thought about Suzy staying with strangers while her mother was…Judy could only guess where. She had to figure this out.

            “Hopps, Wilde,” Bogo appeared beside their desk, making the two smaller mammals jump; they hadn’t even heard him approach.

The buffalo had a sympathetic look in his eyes, “You two need to sleep.”

“I can sleep when I’m dead,” Judy replied, flipping through the files once again.

“I already am dead,” Nick moaned.

Bogo let out a huff of annoyance, “I know this is an important case but you two aren’t the only ones on it. Take a break and clear your mind and _then_ you can come back to it.”

 When Judy still looked stubborn Bogo looked around and spotted Aaron Ronno heading toward the precinct’s door. “Ronno!”

The deer jumped slightly before looking over his shoulder and hurrying over to the chief where he saluted him, “Yes, sir?”

“I’m sending you to check that old honey factory right?” the buffalo asked.

Ronno nodded, “We’ve been getting calls that someone is illegally making honey.”

Nick scowled, “That’s a thing?”

 Bogo nodded and turned back to the rabbit and fox, “You two go with him so you can have your case for the day, and when you’re done go home and sleep.”

“Sir…” Judy started.

“That’s an order, Hopps,” Bogo broke in sternly before walking off.

Aaron grinned at the two with all the excitement of a cub meeting his favorite superheroes, “Ready to go?”

 

.

 

            “Oh, you’re planning on making detective?”

Aaron was in the driver seat of his patrol car, Judy and Nick sharing passenger. Nick had his face pressed up against the glass and was ‘resting’ his eyes, Judy, sipping on a new cup of coffee was telling Aaron about her new ambition.

“I asked Bogo about it last night,” Judy told him. “I told him if I solve the Eleanor Sugar case I want him to seriously consider making me a detective.”

“And what’d he say?”

“I ran out before he could say no,” Judy said with a helpless shrug.

The deer chuckled and then pulled into the road that led to the old factory, “Ironically enough this old factory used to make honey.”

“Why is it illegal to make honey?” Nick asked. His sudden words making the other two start, so he really _was_ resting his eyes.

“It used to not be,” Aaron said. “But lately mammals have been adding alcohol to the honey and it’s apparently very addicting and can get one drunk. I believe its street name is Winnie.”

“Sounds nice and simple,” Judy replied, and then leaned forward in her seat as the old factory appeared; Aaron brought the car to a halt.

 “Have we any idea what the honeyshiners are like?” Judy asked as the three climbed out of the car and headed to the entrance door.

“I looked up a few older honeyshiner cases back in Evergreen, they’re usually bears and they’re pretty docile. They just want to have a drink, not start an illegal honey cartel.”

 “Still, a bear is bigger than all of us,” Judy replied, loading a tranquilizer into her dart gun.

            The door was barely hanging on its hinges which reminded Judy of Suzy’s destroyed home but she quickly shook her head and followed Aaron and Nick into the building. It was dusty and full of cobwebs, an old surveillance belt spread through the middle of the floor. Old boxes with the label of a cartoon bear were scattered around, full of empty, dusty honey jars.

Then there was the buzzing.

            The three mammals’ jaws dropped at the dozens of bee containers that were spread across the floor. Judy spotted a still that she guessed was what was used to mix the alcohol and honey.

Nick walked over to examine a box of bees, “I don’t like this.”

“Honeyshining is hardly the worse crime ever committed,” Aaron replied, walking over to the still.

“Not that, I’m talking about these bees. A room with a bunch of bees has never ended with a happily ever after.”

“Relax,” Judy patted his shoulder, “They can’t sting you while they’re in a cage.”

            Judy’s ears twitched suddenly and then a surprised noise had her turning around to see a white bear wearing punk cloths and holding another box of empty jars, she was staring at them in fearful shock.

“Casper Barret,” Aaron hurried over to Nick to and Judy. “You are under arrest.”

“She’s a polar bear,” Nick spoke up, “I thought polar bears don’t do honey.”

The bear scowled, “I’m not a polar bear, I’m a black bear who just happens to have white fur you blind-eyed jerk!”

Nick blinked in astonishment, taking a step back, “Uh… Sorry?”

 Aaron stepped forward then to his fellow cops’ side, pulling out his pawcuffs and fixing Casper with a stern glare, “We need to take you in Miss Barret. And it would be good for all of us if you went in _quietly_.”

The bear looked from him to Nick and Judy then let out a defeated sigh. “Very well,” she carefully placed the box down, “Three against one, I known when I’ve been beat.” Her amber eyes glanced at a bee container close to her side.

 Judy and Aaron tensed up while Nick’s eyes bulged, “Don’t-”

Too late Casper lunged, knocking the container down before dashing back out the door. A swarm of angry bees flew out of the box and immediately turned on the three police officers.

 Judy ducked under the swarm and raced toward the door, “I’ll get her!”

Dashing outside she saw Casper running toward a black van, nearly tripping over her feet as she ran. Judy quickly pulled out the dart gun and aimed it at the bear’s neck. A sudden sting stabbed Judy behind the ear and she yelped, her finger pulling the trigger. The bear let out a gasp of surprise as the dart hit her shoulder instead but she didn’t stop as she headed toward the van.

 “Stop!” Judy called out, ignoring the bee sting as she ran after Casper, reloading her dart gun. She fired again just as Casper was about to close the van door, hitting the bear square in the neck.

“OW!” the bear growled then immediately started to wobble, “Oh…”

Judy jumped back as Casper fell out of her van onto the dirt, trying to pull herself off the ground but failing.  

“Casper Barret, you are under arrest,” Judy informed her, pulling the stinger out from behind her ear.

“No…” the bear moaned drowsily, “Duh…” And then Casper passed out.

            “Ow, ow, ow, ow.” Judy turned around and saw Nick and Aaron running out of the factory, their fur sticking on end. Judy could hear the bees buzzing in the factory but only a few fluttered out and they didn’t come after the fox and the deer.

 “ _What_ did I tell you,” Nick growled as he stomped over to Judy, his arms and tail sticking out and his teeth gritted in pain. “ _What_ did I tell you?”

“Did you count the stings?” Judy asked worriedly, knowing a body could only handle so many stings before it became fatal.

The look Nick gave her was all the answer she needed.

 “Oh, and Officer Hopps,” Aaron spoke up, his entire body still tensed up. “If you’re wondering why the bees are no longer following us-they chased us around the factory you see-it’s because most of them have passed on and left their stingers with _us_.”  “Why didn’t you just follow me outside?” she asked them, “They might’ve flew away.”

“That was like a thousand bees, Carrots; logic had no place in my head at that moment!”

“Let’s just go,” Aaron moaned in pain and started to drag Casper to the patrol car. “Officer Hopps you can drive.”

 

.

 

            “I hope she rots,” Nick growled as he and Judy entered their apartment. “With uh…who’s her cellmate?”

“Wade Jones,” Judy answered, closing the door behind her. “Remember, that wolf called Frothy?”  “Ah, yes,” Nick grinned evilly, “ _That_ is sweet justice, Fluff.”

            When they had returned to the precinct that got some odd looks, dragging a still unconscious bear into the precinct while Nick and Aaron continuously said ‘ow’, before Clawhauser had called someone in to send Casper on her way and relieved Nick and Aaron of their stings. But Nick still wasn’t in a good mood.

 “You’re just tired,” Judy nestled into his side as she led him to their bedroom. “Bogo’s right, we both need some sleep.” She emphasized her point with a yawn.

Nick nodded, still grumbling and crawled onto the bed, sprawling his limbs out. Judy placed her phone on the bedside table just in case anyone called before tucking Nick in. She slid under the covers next to him but before she could really get comfortable Nick’s arm wrapped around her and pulled her into his chest. Judy smiled against his warm fur and fell asleep instantly.


	5. Double Date

It was already evening when Judy woke up, Nick still curled around her. She had a momentary panic before she remembered it was Saturday and their day off. She crawled out from under Nick’s arm and stretched, yawning.

 “Wake up, Nick,” she gently shook the fox’s shoulder. “Come on, we’ve slept all day.”

Nick let out a tired growl and covered his face with a pillow. Judy pouted.

“Nick, its Saturday. It’s our day off,” Judy told him. “Let’s make the most of it.”

 _That_ got the fox’s attention; he sat up, the pillow falling off his head as looked down at her. “Day off, you said?”

Judy nodded, “Yeah, why-”

 She let out a yelp as Nick pinned her onto her back with a wolfish grin. “Then we _must_ make the most of it, darling.”

Judy rolled her eyes but smiled, “When I said that I meant we should get up and have something to eat, maybe go out for a walk or shop?”

“We can do that later,” Nick murmured, his lips tracing her neck.

 Judy giggled then let out a small gasp as Nick started to nibble on her neck, his paw sliding under her shirt.

 She pulled his face away, making the fox frown slightly before Judy kissed him under the chin and he immediately started to purr and even wagged his tail. She had learned a few days after living together that this was his favorite spot.

 “That’s cruel and unusual punishment, Officer,” Nick said as they rolled over so Judy was on top of him.

She laughed and brushed their noses together, “You love it.”

 Nick smiled cheekily before reaching over her and grabbing her tail, Judy jumped in surprise making Nick laugh. “Don’t tug there,” she complained, crawling off his chest. Her nerves were on end and she realized Nick just found her soft spot. If he found out he’d never let it go.

 Nick whimpered and tried to pull her back onto him, “ _Carrots_ …”

“ _Blueberries_ …”

 Nick stopped, cocking a brow, “Blueberries? Where’d that come from?”

 “It just came to me actually,” Judy admitted, and then looked up with a smile. “But I like the sound of it.”

            The two cleaned themselves up an hour later and headed outside, deciding to eat out for dinner, which was technically breakfast for them.

The two had only taken a step out of their apartment building when they were suddenly lifted into the air by a large hug, loud jingling ringing in their ears.

“ _Sven_ ,” Judy greeted happily. Nick mumbled a quiet hey, clearly discomforted by the hug.

 “Officer Bunny and her fox,” Sven gushed, spinning around with the two in his arms. “It’s been an eternity, how are you? How’s the dating life? Have either of you proposed yet?”

“Sven, let them breathe,” a calmer voice spoke up. Judy looked over Sven’s shoulder to see the reindeer’s mate, Charlie. She was smiling softly at them as Sven placed the two back on the ground.

“How was your vacation?” Nick asked the two. Sven and Charlie had gone to a ski resort outside of Zootopia.

“Chilly,” Charlie wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered, “But fun.”

“Especially when we had to cuddle to keep you warm,” Sven grinned devilishly.

Charlie smirked at him, “But next we’re going to the beach, no cuddling there.”

“I’ll make due with skinny dipping,” Sven replied. He then swung his head around to face the fox and rabbit again, the bells on his antlers swinging with him. “So, are you two on duty right now?”

 Judy shook her head, “We were about to go out and get something to eat.”

Sven clapped his hooves together in delight, “That’s fantastic! Let Charlie and I treat you to dinner, I’ve been _dying_ for a double date with you two.”

“He’s not kidding,” Charlie added, “Before our vacation he was crawling around his office on all fours and moaning.”

“That couldn’t have been easy on Winter,” Nick responded.

Sven let out a depressed snort, “I wouldn’t know, she’s dumped Charlie and me.”  “She did not,” Charlie retorted, “Since I’ve been helping you out at your office more she decided to get a second job so we could spend time together.”

 “You say that now but just you wait,” Sven moaned, “She’s not gonna want to come back.”

 Charlie rolled her eyes but turned her attention to Judy, “Winter’s a workaholic, she’ll come back as long as Sven gives her something to do. Anyway _would_ you two like to join us for dinner? We can even catch a movie.”

“We’d love to,” Judy answered and grabbed Nick’s paw, leading him after her as Sven and Charlie led the way.

 

.

 

            The four decided dinner at a buffet, Charlie and Judy talking about the vacation and past cases while Sven and Nick chowed down.

“That poor baby,” Charlie said in sympathy when Judy ended up talking about Suzy and Eleanor Sugar. “Well, I’m positive you’ll find her mother soon.”

Judy smiled sadly, “Thanks for the confidence…”

Nick reached his paw out to hold the rabbit’s who squeezed it gratefully. “I just hope Suzy is okay without us.”

            Judy went quiet, her ears drooping. Charlie and Nick shared a frown while Sven swallowed loudly. “That’s enough depressing mood for this night. Nick, come with me.”

“I’d rather not,” Nick said, looking partially terrified. But Sven reached across the table, grabbed the fox’s arm and dragged him across the restaurant.

Charlie and Judy didn’t know what the plan was until they saw Sven and Nick walk onto the karaoke stage.

 “Oh, no,” Charlie breathed in horror.

Judy glanced at the cheetah before turning back to Nick and Sven, the fox looked uncomfortable as Sven was searching through the songs.

“How good is Sven’s singing?” Judy asked his mate.

“Uh…”

“From a scale of one to ten,” she offered.

Charlie swallowed, “Negative five. He can write songs…he just can’t sing.”

Judy glanced at Sven who was still trying to choose a song though now it looked like Nick was trying to help him.

“Are you sure you’re not exaggerating?” she asked the cheetah.

“Judy, we have to get him off that stage right _now_.”

            Judy stood up along with the cheetah and followed her to the stage, expecting Charlie to have some elaborate plan to get her mate off the stage, but instead Charlie just grabbed him by the arm and started to roughly drag him away.

“But-but- _MUSIC_!”

“No,” Charlie said bluntly.

 “I want to hear Nick sing!”

The fox shrugged, “I’m not that great.”

“Yes, you are,” Judy said immediately, making Nick frown at her.

Sven gasped and pointed at the rabbit, “Officer Bunny! You sing with him! I want a duet!”

 Judy’s ears perked at the thought, “Well…I’m not as good as Nick but I guess…I can give it a go?”

 Judy hopped onto the stage and Sven allowed Charlie to drag him back to their table. Judy looked through the song choices while Nick looked over her shoulder.

“Carrots,” he breathed into her ear, “I can’t sing.”

“Of course you can,” Judy replied, keeping her eyes on the list of possible duets. “You have the voice of an angel; I’ve told you that before.”

“I can’t sing in front of _crowds_.”

Judy looked up at him, “You have stage fright?”

His ears lowered adorably and Judy took his paw in hers. “Hey,” she breathed, “I’m right here. I’ve got ya. The crowd will love you, and if the few who are tone-deaf throw food at you, I’ll arrest them. Okay?”

Nick swallowed loudly, casting an unsure glance at the rest of the restaurant, most of the mammals were enjoying their meal and not paying attention to them; he turned back to Judy and nodded.

 She smiled and finally picked a duet, one of her favorite songs growing up back in Bunnyburrow.

            The bouncy music started to play and Judy grinned as Sven gave a loud applause from his seat, Charlie gave a much more subdued clap.

Nick handed her a microphone and she winked at him, “Ready to blow the roof off this place?”

Nick started, “ _Summer loving had me a blast, oh yeah_.”

“ _Summer loving happened so fast_ ,” Judy sang along.

“ _I met a bunny crazy for me_ ,” Nick took her paw as he sang and Judy curtsied.

 “ _Met a fox cute as can be_.”

 “ _Summer days drifting away, to, uh oh, those summer nights_!”

 When the chorus hit Sven took a deep intake of breath to sing along but Charlie quickly covered his mouth, singing for him instead while random mammals across the restaurant joined in, giving the fox and rabbit encouragement.

Nick continued, “ _She swam by me, she got a cramp_.”

“ _He ran by me, got my suit damp_.”

“ _I saved her life, she nearly drowned_ ,” Nick placed a paw over his chest, his arm moving in a dramatic sweep.

Judy rolled her eyes, “ _He showed off, splashing around_.”

            Nick took her paw and spun her around his arm as they continued the song, the fox’s fur no longer prickling with nerves and both their smiles matching. Charlie and the crowd continued to sing the chorus for them, smiling at the two obviously in love mammals while Sven resigned himself to snapping his hooves to the rhythm.

Judy popped her foot up and fluttered her eyelashes at Nick, “ _He got friendly, holding my hand_.”

Nick leaned forward to where their noses nearly touched and winked, “ _She got friendly, down in the sand_.”

“ _He was sweet just turned eighteen_.”

“ _Well, she was good you know what I mean_.”

Judy swayed in place as the song started to end, the bouncy music residing, “ _It turned colder, that’s where it ends_.”

She cast Nick a mournful look that the fox returned with big eyes, “ _So I told her, we’d still be friends_.”

“ _Then we made our true love vow_ ,” Judy clutched her chest.

Nick lifted his head as if he was deep in thought, “ _Wonder what she’s doing_ _now_.”

The two sang in unison, “ _Summer dreams, ripped at the seams. Bu-ut oh, those summer nights_!”

 

.

 

            “You two were _spectacular_!”

The four friends were walking down the street to the cinema, the street lamps lighting their way. Sven had given them a standing ovation and was even trying to get them to consider singing a part time job.

He and Judy walked ahead of their significant others, talking animatedly about the music. Charlie and Nick walked side by side at a much calmer pace.

“So how is the dating life,” Charlie asked him.

Nick shrugged, “Judy and me hung out so much it’s almost like nothing’s changed.”

Charlie chuckled, “Okay then rephrase, how’s being allowed to kiss Judy whenever you want like?”

Nick’s eyes went to said bunny and he smiled dotingly, “Perfect.”

Charlie recognized that look, the same look she always had when she looked at her ridiculous but loveable reindeer. But there was something in Nick and Judy’s relationship that she didn’t have in hers, there was something that ran deeper between them other than friendship and love…it was a type of dependency. And despite herself Charlie dare wonder what Nick would do if his bunny was suddenly gone.

 

.

 

            Arriving at the cinema they had the choice between a romantic comedy and a horror movie. Sven wanted to see the horror flick despite the others telling him it was perfectly fine if they saw the rom-com instead.

Their protests fell on deaf ears and they ended up watching the scary movie. Judy for one enjoyed the thrill of the suspenseful frights and ended up laughing at the few jump scares the film had, finding the demonic spirit almost cartoonish in behavior.

Charlie meanwhile was bored and spent more time enjoying her popcorn and calming down Sven who was terrified of the film despite his gusto when suggesting it.

And Nick, well Nick wasn’t paying attention in the slightest, using the dark theater to his advantage to cuddle up next to Judy who barely noticed.

            An hour later the four exited the cinema, Judy telling Nick what had happened in the film while Charlie calmed Sven down who was still on edge.

“I told you we should’ve watched the romantic comedy,” Charlie told him. “But you never listen to me.”

“I do listen to you,” Sven mumbled, he was walking ahead of them.

“What did I remind you to do this morning?” Charlie demanded.

“Uh… To remind you that you look gorgeous,” he turned around and walked backwards so he could meet her eye, “You look gorgeous.”

Charlie stopped to look over to Judy and Nick and rolled her eyes at them. Judy snickered but then Nick suddenly shot forward, past Judy and Charlie and grabbed Sven, clutching his shirt and pulling him forward so quickly the two fell onto the pavement.

A second later an ivory blur charged past the spot Sven had been standing only to slam into the wall of a closed dry cleaner shop.

 Judy and Charlie hurried over to their side and stared at the mammal that had suddenly tried to assault them. It was a goat, his fur white, with ginger patches all across his body. The goat’s gray eyes stared at them, wide and feral, and Judy saw the blotch of blue on his neck and a lump of fear clogged her throat and she suddenly couldn’t breathe. She saw Nick going rigid and she knew he noticed it too, Charlie, beside her, started to take slow steps back.

 The goat staggered away from the wall and made a growling noise, his eyes honing in on them and Judy cursed herself for not bringing along any sort of weapon.

The wild stranger took a menacing step forward and lowered his head, ready to charge at the group again, Nick and Sven looking ready to jump up and meet him head on while Charlie looked ready to bolt.

 Just then sirens blared and Judy took her eyes off the goat a split second to see a patrol car heading toward them, and then the goat let out a feral yell and ran at them. Nick and Sven sprung to their feet but before the goat could even graze them he fell to the pavement, a dart sticking out of his shoulder.

            The patrol car screeched to a halt and out jumped Aaron, looking frazzled and ready to faint. “I-I was just doing the evening patrol and he-he came out of _nowhere_!”

“Where’d you see him?” Judy demanded as Nick hurried to the car to find a set of pawcuffs.

“I was out near that donut shop down the street,” Aaron explained, staring at the goat as if he would jump up and rip them to ribbons. “He just stumbled out of some alley, I asked him if he was okay and he charged at the car, head butting it. I turned on the sirens and I guessed it scared him because he ran off and I chased him.” He looked to Sven and Charlie, “Are you two okay?”

Sven nodded, releasing a breath and then turned to Charlie.

The cheetah had her arms wrapped around herself and was staring at the goat in terror, her entire body shaking uncontrollably and her eyes wide and far away. Judy realized Charlie wasn’t seeing them or the savage goat, she was seeing a ferocious lioness and a deceitful spider monkey who made her bend to their will.

 “Charlotte,” Sven breathed, stepping toward her. It was the first time Judy had ever heard him call her by her real name. “Charlotte, come here.”

He opened his arms and the cheetah met him half way, tackling into his arms and burying herself into his neck, still shaking.

 Sven mumbled softly into her ear as he held her close, the cheetah’s shaking was slowly lessening. Meanwhile Nick was able to cuff the goat and Aaron helped put him in the back of the patrol car.

 “The tranquilizer will last until we get to the precinct,” the deer assured them.

“This goat needs to go to the hospital,” Nick replied, looking between the goat and Charlie, sympathy in his green eyes.

 “Do you need us to walk you home?” Judy asked Sven.

The reindeer smiled softly down at her, “We’ll catch a cab; don’t you worry. You just do your job, Officer Bunny.”

Judy smiled assuredly at him, “We will, get Charlie home safe, okay?”

Sven nodded soberly and coaxed his mate down the street, pulling out his cell to order a cab.

            Judy and Nick crawled into the passenger seat while Aaron took driver, the deer still looked weary and the rabbit reached forward to give his shoulder a pat. “It’s fine, Aaron. Everything’s fine.”

She glanced at Nick as she finished her sentence and the fox returned the look then subtly shook his head. It was not fine.

Before Aaron could call in the police radio crackled to life and Clawhauser’s voice filled the car: “We have a code 207A at the Department of Family and Cubs Services!”

_Code 207A…Attempt at kidnapping…Suzy._

Judy’s breath stopped.

 

 


	6. Hungry for Sugar

            The Department was a two story building and only two cars were parked in the lot, both belonging to two of the employees.

Judy rushed inside the building, her heart pounding so fast she could feel the blood rushing through her veins. Inside she nearly tripped over an unconscious leopard, a blow to the head the obvious cause of his state.

 “Who-who are you?” a scared voice spoke from a desk and Judy looked up to see a cowering sheep.

“I’m a cop,” Judy informed her, “What happened?”  “They-they just came in and attacked Jeremy…”

“Where are they?” Judy demanded.

 The sheep pointed upstairs and Judy wasted no time dashing across the room and heading up the stairs, her fear making her run two steps at a time. She turned and was almost on the second floor when a figure appeared, halting her in her tracks.

 The stranger wore all black, a mask covering their face with the exception of pointed ears that were shredded and glaring brown eyes. All Judy could tell was that it was some kind of canine. 

            “Get out,” Judy growled, furrowing her brow.

The stranger’s eyes narrowed and Judy had the sense she was being laughed at. The sudden frightened wail of a child had Judy charging up the stairs, but she wasn’t fast enough. The stranger kicked their foot out, hitting Judy square in the chest and sending her down the steps, she crashed into the wall, her breath knocked out of her.

Judy tried to get back on her feet, her chest heaving as air struggled back into her lungs. The stranger stepped down the stairs at a leisurely pace, whistling, in no hurry.

Judy stood up and faced the masked fiend, hoping Nick was having better luck than she was.

 

.

 

            When the patrol car had stopped in the parking lot Nick jumped out of the car and ran to the back of the building, following the plan. Judy was the distraction, he was the sneak attack, and Aaron was the look out.

The Department building was right next to a larger thrift shop-like store, the space between the two barely large enough for the fox to slip through but he managed.

Bracing his paws against the slick wall of the Department and the gritty cement blocks of the thrift soft, Nick started to climb up, his eyes on a second story window. He spotted the flash of a large shadow and moved faster.

            Reaching the window he was relieved to find it unlocked and slid it open, climbing inside. But as soon as his feet touched the floor a shape tackled him, nearly knocking Nick out the window. The fox braced his paws against the pane, kicking out at the attack who was taller than him, dressed in black and wearing a face mask-dark green eyes glared at him. Nick quickly stepped away from the window just in case the animal wanted to rush him again.

He had stepped into a hall, doors lining the wall but only one knocked off its hinges, Nick’s eyes roved to the end of the hall where he noticed a small, round table sat, a flower vase atop it…and a small sugar glider underneath it.

            The stranger’s eyes followed Nick’s, widening when they spotted Suzy. The mammal glanced at Nick for half a second before running toward the sugar glider. Nick was right behind, knocking into the stranger’s side and causing them both to fall to the floor.

Suzy let out a terrified squeak and headed to the open window, her rattle in her mouth. The stranger roughly pushed Nick away and made a grab at the sugar glider but the child was faster and managed to jump out of the way. Nick hurried to the sugar glider, managing to grab her in his paws before she could glide out.

“Sorry, sweetie,” Nick told the now squirming baby. “But let’s not see if we can land on our feet.”

A snarl had Nick turned around a split second before a pain seared into his cheek. Nick fell to the floor with a painful yelp, the stranger having lashed out their claws and sliced his cheek, he could feel warm blood stain his fur.

Nick growled and held Suzy against his chest, the child having gone still after she spotted the blood.

 “Just try to get her,” Nick told the stranger, baring his fangs. “I won’t have any qualms about using my claws either.”

The stranger’s green eyes bore into him and a nagging pulled in the back of Nick’s brain but he forcefully shook it away, moving slightly so the left side of his body blocked Suzy from her attempted kidnapper.

            Suddenly there was the sound of something crashing and a new stranger appeared, desperately trying to hold onto their mask while Judy tried to rip it off, her legs wrapped around the predator’s neck.

Despite the pain Nick smiled, it was moments like this that he really loved that bunny. Sirens wailed and the mammal that had clawed Nick immediately headed toward the window, slipping out. Judy’s victim managed to pry her off without losing the mask and quickly followed their friend.

 “Get back here!” Judy yelled out furiously and ran over to the window, by the way she was looking around the two predators had already vanished. The rabbit let out a infuriated growl. “Wait until I get my paws on them again I’ll-” Her voice halted when she turned around and spotted Nick and Suzy.

“ _Nick_!” she cried out and hurried to kneel by his side, she held his head in her paws to examine the wound. “What happened?”

“I tripped,” he answered sarcastically but regretted it when he saw how upset Judy looked.

 He wrapped his tail around her, “Don’t worry, Carrots. Tis but a flesh wound.”

Judy swallowed then looked down at Suzy who had started to nuzzle against Nick’s neck. “She likes you now.”

 “She better,” Nick replied but was grinning, scratching the sugar glider’s back. “I did just climb a building and get cut up for her.”

            The two traveled down stairs with Suzy sitting on Nick’s shoulder, her rattle still held between her teeth. On the ground floor Aaron and another officer were questioning the sheep: “We were just closing up when they burst in and knocked him out”-she pointed to the leopard who was now awake and being attended to by a paramedic-“They came over and it looked like they would kill me, but then the tall one with the green eyes saw my computer. I was cleaning up some files and had Suzy Sugar’s opened, telling them what room she was in.” She indicated to the stairs and it was then she noticed the fox and rabbit with said infant. “Oh, thank heavens! She’s okay.”  Aaron smiled in surprised at them and walked over but ended up cringing when he saw Nick’s wound, “You okay, Officer Wilde?”

“I’ll live,” Nick replied.

“Still, you need to go to the hospital to get that bandaged,” Aaron told him. The deer then gazed at Suzy and smiled sweetly, “I’m glad you two got there in time. The kidnappers run off?”

 “With their tails between their legs,” Judy replied triumphantly.

Aaron nodded, impressed, “Excellent. Come on, let’s go ahead and go to the hospital, everything’s covered here and we still have an unconscious goat in the back of the car.”

 They walked out to the patrol car together; not saying what they all knew was true. Eleanor’s kidnapping, the savage goat, and Suzy nearly getting taken…none of it was a coincidence.


	7. Missing

Nick and Judy lay on the fox’s hospital bed, staring up at the hand held mirror in Nick’s paw, examining the brand new bandage on his cheek.

“It makes my face look fat,” he complained. Suzy was curled into a ball under the fox’s neck. She had had her check up and was deemed just fine, but the little sugar glider had not left Nick’s side since the department and still clutched that little rattle between her paws. Judy couldn’t blame her of that; it was the only piece of home she had left which was tragic considering she was only an infant.

 The rabbit scoffed at her boyfriend’s words, “No it doesn’t. You look fine.”

“Think it’ll scar?” Nick asked, running his fingers over the bandage.

“I don’t know,” Judy answered honestly. “Maybe?”

“I hope so,” Nick grinned, “I’d look so sexy with a war wound.”

Judy rolled her eyes and nuzzled her cheek against his, “You’re already handsome enough, slick.” She chuckled quietly, “I just realize…we match.”

 “If you mean we’re a match made in heaven I already knew that,” the fox joked, placing the mirror on the bedside table.

 “No, I mean I got clawed once too.” She sat up and brushed the fur on her cheek the wrong way so Nick could see the faint scars Gideon Grey had left on her years ago. It was something she had gotten over years ago, but silly her she should’ve known better than to show it to Nick.

 He sat up so suddenly that Suzy fell onto his lap with an indignant squeak; he reached his paws out and trapped Judy’s face. She was silent as he studied her scars but really didn’t like the look in his eyes.

“This was years ago,” she tried to assure. “It’s no big deal.”

“Who did this to you, Carrots?” Nick asked his voice low with a growl.

 “Nick,” she insisted, “Don’t make a big deal out of this. It was nothing.”

“Don’t lie to me, Carrots,” he replied sternly.

Judy let out a helpless sigh, knowing he wouldn’t let this go even if the hospital caught fire. “Gideon Grey. But we were kids and-” her sentence stopped short as Nick released her and placed Suzy on his shoulder before he jumped off the bed and headed for the door.

 “Where are you going?” Judy demanded, racing after him.

“To Bunnyburrow,” he replied as he marched down the hall.

Judy walked at his side, “For what?”

“I have to go kick Gideon Grey’s tail.”

 “Wait, no, no, no,” Judy jumped in front of the fox, making him stop. “Nick, it’s no big deal, really. He apologized; I wouldn’t have showed you if I knew you were going to act like this.”

 “I can’t believe I shook his paw,” Nick suddenly snapped, staring at said paw in disgust. Suzy jumped off his shoulder to land on his palm, shaking her rattle like crazy.

            Before Judy could say more running footsteps had her turning around to see a couple of doctors and nurses running down a hall, to the rabbit’s surprise Mayor Lionheart was right behind them, looking just as panicked.

She raced over just in time to nearly trip over Percy who had been following after the mayor.

“Judy!” he gasped in surprise, looking her over. Nick arrived at her side and the rabbit flinched when he saw Nick’s bandage. “Are you two okay?”

“We’re fine, just a little scratched up,” Nick answered, then looked after the departing mammals. “They’re certainly in a hurry. Any problems, Perry?”

“Is that goat okay?” Judy asked. They had brought him here to be cured, Judy hoping he could have some information to tell as she was almost positive this savage goat had been a distraction so Suzy could be kidnapped.

Percy stared at her with wide, surprised eyes, “You don’t know?”

Nick and Judy shook their heads, anxiety rising.

 “The Night Howlers antidote is gone.”

The rabbit jumped when the mayor called his name and he hurried down the hall after him, Judy and Nick keeping pace with the assistant mayor.

“What do you mean the antidote’s gone?” Judy demanded. “Weren’t a lot of vials made during the outbreak?”

“Yes, but the ones remaining were stolen,” Percy answered. “Chief Bogo has some mammals checking the security cameras but-”

“Wait don’t they have the antidote written down or something?” Nick demanded.

“That’s just it,” Percy looked up at the fox, “They had all the antidote’s information in their computer database but someone deleted all of it. And the only mammal who knew it by heart was Eleanor Sugar.”

 Judy and Nick looked at each other.

“By any chance,” Nick began, “Bellwether hasn’t escaped prison has she?”

Judy shook her head, her thoughts racing over how bad this was becoming. If there was one savage mammal odds are there were more, and they had no way to cure them.

 They made it to the doctors and nurses and the mayor who were waiting for Percy at a door, and Judy knew behind that door was the savage goat.             “How about Suzy and I go check the camera?” Nick asked.

Judy nodded, not wanting the baby to be around the goat, “Go ahead, I’ll come get you when we leave.”

 The fox turned and walked off, Judy followed Percy into the room.

Viscous bleating greeted them, the goat tied to a pole in the middle of the room and Judy was reminded of Emmit Otterton. The goat was staring at the other mammals with hostility in his eyes, looking ready to charge.

 “Who is he?” Judy asked Percy.

“Marvin Beardby,” one of the doctors, a badger, answered her. “He’s jobless and has been caught for petty shop lifting.”

“Does he have any relatives?” Judy asked.

“One,” the badger replied, “A brother by the name of Billy. He lives out in Tundra Town.”

“Billy Beardby?” Judy echoed in disbelief, “Isn’t he the creator of the iPaw?”

“Quite, and he’s made other technology as well, he’s an impressive inventor.”

 “Why don’t you go talk to him, Officer Hopps?” Lionheart suggested, “See if we can figure anything else out that might tell us who injected him.”

“And maybe that’s the mammal that kidnapped Eleanor,” Percy added.

Judy nodded, they needed to find Eleanor. Without her nothing Judy found out about Marvin would help. She told the mammals a quick goodbye before heading out the door, casting one last look at Marvin Beardby as she did so; the goat’s dark eyes watched her until the door closed shut.

 

.

 

            “It looks like just a glitch,” Nick said, standing by Officer Wilfred the wolf as they examined the security cameras. Specifically the one that overlooked the room where the antidote was kept, Nick could see the vials clearly in a small fridge, but then the screen would turn to static for only a few seconds and then fix, but then the vials were gone.

“But it isn’t,” the wolf growled, staring at the picture as if they missed something. “Isn’t it just like the security cameras at the Hill?” Nick nodded, “But that one turned off completely into static, they were more professional about this one, quicker too.”

Wilfred looked to Nick, “Are you nervous?”

“About what?” Nick asked.

“Remember what happened last time night howlers were used?”

He’d never forget. “This was a prey though, and the mammals that tired to kidnap Suzy were definitely predators. I think we’re safe.” But a part of Nick wasn’t so sure, and that part was very scared.

“I’m going to send this footage to the precinct,” Wilfred told him, “See if anyone else can do something with it.”

            “Nick?” Judy stepped into the room, smiling when she saw the fox. But that smile quickly turned into a frown, “Where’s Suzy?”

Nick whirled around to show off his tail, and the little sugar glider sitting on it. He waved his tail slightly and Suzy giggled at the movement before jumping into Judy’s awaiting arms.

“So are you two taking care of her now or…” Wilfred trailed off.

“Not officially,” Judy said, hugging the sugar glider. “But she’s just as safe with us as anywhere else, safer even.”

 Nick walked over and scratched Suzy under the chin, the baby smiling appreciatively.

 “You guys look cute together,” Wilfred said, “Like a family.”

 “That reminds me,” Judy spoke up, looking as if she was gliding over the wolf’s statement. “Nick and I dating must have surprised a good bit of the precinct.”

Wilfred laughed but quickly stopped when he saw they weren’t laughing with them, “Oh, I assumed someone told you.”  Nick cocked an eyebrow, “Told us what?”

“The betting pool,” he answered then made an awkward face, “We were all kind of…making bets about when you two would start dating.”

Judy’s jaw dropped and Nick face-pawed. “Let me guess,” the fox said. “Clawhauser was part of it.”

“Oh it was his idea,” Wilfred said. “Not that I’m complaining. I got a hundred and fifty bucks because of you two. And I’ll go ahead and let you know, we have officially started a when they’ll tie the knot betting pool.” He leaned in and playfully elbowed Nick, “Do me a favor and wait until next year to pop the question will ya, bud?”

 “And with that we’re leaving,” Nick replied, his fur on end as he pushed Judy out the door. “Good night, Willy.”

The wolf grinned and waved good bye as he broke into song, “ _Can you feel the love tonight_?”

 


	8. Hunting and Beardby

“It’s still pretty early, isn’t it?” Judy asked as they climbed into their patrol car, having walked home.

“It just turned nine,” Nick answered, Suzy crawling around the patrol car.

“Let’s got to Tundra Town,” Judy decided.

“Okay,” Nick answered, pulling Suzy onto his lap so they could buckle up.

Judy stared at him, “You’re not going to ask why?”

“I’ve learned to roll with it.”

 Judy put the car into drive and headed to their destination. “Well, to answer the question you didn’t ask that goat is named Marvin Beardby and he has a brother named Billy out in Tundra Town. I want to ask him some questions.”

 “Do you have the address?”

“I texted Clawhauser and he sent it to me,” Judy replied.

“Wait…are we allowed to do this when we’re off duty?”

 Judy turned on the radio, blasting a Gazelle song.

 

.

 

            Billy’s door was locked, the windows dark and Judy was slightly worried that whoever got a hold of Eleanor learned not to leave such a big mess. With Suzy perched on his head Nick walked away from the door and into one of the windows, looking inside. While it was pitch-black to Judy she knew Nick could see perfectly fine. “See anything?”

“If you mean any signs of a break in, no,” he answered. “I see some furniture, a TV, a book shelf, and a few pictures-uh oh.”  “Uh oh,” Judy echoed, her panic spiking.

 Nick stepped away from the window with a deeply suffering face, “On a picture…it looks like Billy here is good pals with our favorite mafia boss.”

“Mr. Big?” Judy asked with a furrowed brow.

Nick scowled at her, “How many other mafia bosses do you know, Carrots?”

She ignored his sarcasm and headed to the car, “Well, let’s not waste any time. Maybe he knows where Beardby is.”

 “Can’t we just call?” Nick asked desperately but followed her all the same.

“He’d appreciate us visiting,” Judy replied as they drove off. “Besides, I think Suzy will like Judy, it’ll be good for her to relax and another kid will do that.”

 “Fun fact about your new caretakers, Suzy,” Nick spoke to the little sugar glider, “Judy here loves taking her best friend and boyfriend to visit mammals that hate his guts.”

Judy rolled her eyes, “Would it be better if I let you drag me to visit mammals I don’t like?”

“You like everybody!”

Judy looked up in thought, “No, that’s not true I don’t…Well, I’m _neutral_ to Yax.”

“Oh, okay. Next time we can we’ll go hang out with the naturalists.”

Judy stared at him in horror and Nick burst out laughing, startling Suzy who pouted up at him.

            When the three arrived at Mr. Big’s house they were immediately greeted by a tottering, energetic arctic shrew who was wearing a princess dress, “Judy! Judy!”

The rabbit smiled down at her goddaughter and knelt before her, “Hello, Your Majesty, it’s an honor to be in your presence.”

Little Judy giggled in delight before her big eyes trailed to Nick and spotting Suzy, “Who’s that?”

 Judy picked up the two year old shrew and showed her to Suzy who looked at the toddler with interest. “This is my friend, Suzy. Can you be a sweet girl and play with her while we talk to your grandpa?”

“Grandpapa already has a visitor,” Little Judy told them. “It’s a goat and he’s very sad.”

Nick and Judy exchanged looks.

            “There you are!” Fru Fru’s voice rang out as she appeared at the foyer; she stopped when she saw the rabbit and fox. “Hi, darlings, what are you doing here?”

“They brought me a Suzy!” Little Judy proclaimed as her godmother placed her on the floor next to her mother.

Fru Fru looked at her daughter sternly, “Sweetie, you can’t run off like that. There are too many big polar bears walking around here, you could get stepped on.”

Suzy pouted but nodded obediently. Fru Fru turned back to her, “Come on in, would you like something to drink?”

 “We need to talk to your father,” Judy told her as she and Nick followed the arctic shrews deeper into the house. “He has a visitor?”

“Yes, I’m not sure what it is. But you go ahead and go talk to him, Judy. He won’t mind seeing you.” She sent an uncertain look at Nick, “You on the other paw…”  “I saved your life once,” Nick pointed out flatly.

Fru Fru smiled at him, “Yes, and _I_ love you. But Daddy isn’t that willing to let go of a grudge.”

 “Just stay with Suzy,” Judy told the fox as he rolled his eyes, “I won’t take long.”

            While Fru Fru took Nick and Suzy to the kitchen for a snack Judy headed to Mr. Big’s office (now knowing the direction by heart). She knocked on the door quietly and Mr. Big’s voice came from the other side, inviting her in. Judy stepped inside, closing the door behind her before she saw the shrew’s visitor.

It was a goat, this one with dark brown fur and blue eyes that looked bloodshot. He looked at Judy with surprise before turning back to Mr. Big. “Who is this?”  “The godmother of my granddaughter,” Mr. Big replied, beckoning the rabbit forward. “Why have you come to me this evening?”

 “I didn’t mean to bother you but I was looking for someone,” Judy replied, then turned to the goat. “And I think it’s you. Billy Beardby?” Despite the popular technology the goat had made he didn’t make it a habit of letting magazines share pictures of him.

The goat’s eyes narrowed but he nodded.

“My name is Judy Hopps, I’m an officer of the ZPD,” she began. “I came here to-”

“If it’s about my brother don’t bother,” he cut her off hoarsely, “I already know. The hospital called me.”

 “He had needed a friend to speak with,” Mr. Big explained to her.

“Do you have any idea what he could’ve been doing when he…was injected with the night howler?” Judy asked gently.

 Billy shook his head, “No. Marvin and I never got along ever since I sold my first invention, no matter how hard I tried to reconnect with him. And now I might not be able to.” He met her eyes, “They told me the antidote is missing.”

“It is,” Judy said, “But we’ll get it back, I promise. We’ll fix Marvin.” She reached out to place her paw on his hoof.

“You can believe her,” Mr. Big added. “She is an amazing cop.”

Judy smiled gratefully at the shrew before turning back to Billy. “Well, if you have nothing else to tell me I need to go. But maybe you should stay somewhere safe, in case whoever did that to your bother comes after you.”

“He will be staying here with me,” Mr. Big assured her.

Judy nodded, “That’s good. And I’ll personally call if we figure anything out.” She squeezed the goat’s hoof and turned to leave.

 “Wait,” Billy stopped her. “I don’t know if this will help but the last time I saw my brother he had been spending time around shady looking predators.”

Judy whirled around to look at him, “What kind of predators?”

Billy scrunched his face up in thought, “I’m not sure. It’s been months and I wasn’t paying attention. I think they were all canines, and I told him they didn’t look the trustworthy sort. He didn’t listen.”

 “Thank you, Billy,” Judy told him, her mind racing. “Any information is helpful.” She wished them both a goodnight and went to fetch Nick.

It looked as if a predator was starting to follow Bellwether’s hoof prints.


	9. Frozen

Judy found Nick in the kitchen with the girls.

Fru Fru sat atop a table, sipping from a tiny tea cup. Nick sat on the floor, sipping from a cup the exact same size. His tail was splayed out before him, Suzy and little Judy chasing each other around and over it, the shrew laughing delightfully.

When this case was solved Judy had to talk to Eleanor about Suzy becoming her goddaughter’s play mate.

            Nick’s ears pricked when he spotted her, “Any news?”

“Billy Beardby is here,” she explained, walking over to his side, stepping over the two playing children. Nick offered his cup but she politely declined. “All he could really say was that his brother was hanging around some shady canines for a while.”

Nick’s eyes narrowed, “Doesn’t exactly narrow it down.”

Judy sighed softly, “I know. But that’s all we have and it’s getting late. Let’s find more clues tomorrow.”

            They wished Fru Fru a goodnight (little Judy sad to see the sugar glider go) and headed to their car. The lamp light of Tundra Town cast a beautiful glow on the snow as they drove through the quiet street. After everything that had happened Judy was ready for sleep. She couldn’t believe that just a few short hours ago she and Nick were singing karaoke.

While the two adults were feeling exhaustion weighting on their bones Suzy was still a ball of energy, running from Nick’s lap to Judy’s, looking out at their surroundings and refusing to be buckled in.

Suddenly the sugar glider let out an excited squeak and jumped to the window on Judy’s side, managing to squeeze through the crack the rabbit had left open. Before the two cops could fully progress what had happened Suzy was landing in the snow and dashing away to a nearby outdoor ice skating rink.

            “SUZY!” Judy slammed on the breaks and the two mammals rushed out, giving chase. Suzy made it to the lake of ice, jumping into the rink she immediately lost her balance and slid across the ice, farther into the rink. Said rink was mostly empty except for a few late night skaters, the closest two being a pair of otters who watched the sugar glider with concern.

“I’ll get her, you stay here,” Judy ordered Nick as she jumped over the railing and onto the ice. As soon as her feet touched the slippery surface Judy started to slide and fall, she waved her arms frantically to keep balance as she took clumsy steps forward, farther into the rink.

“I-I’m coming, Suzy,” Judy called, only to fall down face first. ”Need some help there, Carrots?” Nick called from the railing, his tone highly amused. Suzy had slid to a halt and was wisely keeping stone still.

Judy rose to her paws and knees only for her paws to slip and once again her nose met ice. “Help?” she scoffed, managing to make it back to her feet but still swaying precariously. “Are you kidding? I could do this with my eyes-” her foot slipped and she ended up falling onto her rump. “Closed.”

Nick was smiling as he watched Judy try to rise again, “You sure?”

 “Of course,” Judy replied, her voice ending in a yelp as she fell down onto her stomach. She could’ve sworn Suzy was laughing at her too, and the two otters were watching from a distance, their eyes alit with amusement.

 “Well, as much as I enjoy seeing your little cotton tail in the air it’s past our bed times and we need to get home.” Nick jumped over the railing and walked over to her with ease.

Judy stared at him with open mouth astonishment, “…How?”

 “I worked for Mr. Big for years, really think I would stay in Tundra Town that long and not learn how to skate?” All this was said as he skated around her, never once losing his balance.

            “See that, Elsa?” the smaller otter suddenly pointed at Nick. “That right there is the visual definition of showing off, and it’s the exact same thing you’ve been doing all night!”

Looking Judy now noticed that the smaller otter had a paw on the other’s shoulder, her knees wobbling.

The older otter laughed, “Come off it, Anna. Just because we’re not falling on our tails doesn’t mean we’re showing off.”

 Nick helped Judy up, allowing the rabbit to wrap her arms around his waist as her feet slid around under her. He then reached his paw out to Suzy who managed to jump into his palm and climb up onto his shoulder. “Let’s go home.”

 

.

 

            The trio finally made it home, Judy walking into the kitchen to put on the coffee maker while Nick and Suzy immediately headed to bed. The rabbit knew they’d need coffee in the morning; they had a very serious crime to solve with little to no evidence. She worried what they would do with Suzy in the morning; they could hardly take her to find leads. And she worried if Bogo would try to make them take her back to the Department.

 _Over my dead body_ , Judy thought, shuddering at the memory of the attempted kidnapping.

            She walked into her and Nick’s bedroom to see the fox already sprawled out on it, not even having bothered to change clothes. She smiled softly as she saw Suzy curled up under his chin.

Judy slipped into a night gown before crawling under the covers with the two. Before she fell asleep she watched Nick and Suzy for a moment, her last thought before sleep took her was that she believed Nick would make a wonderful father.

 


	10. Hunting and Silver

The next morning while Suzy ate crushed bits of cereal, her newfound guardians tried to figure out who among their friends would be the best babysitter.

While Suzy and little Judy had hit it off they didn’t know if it was safe for the baby to spend all day with the mafia, especially with hidden pools of ice water everywhere.

They liked Sven and Charlie but they were probably just as busy and Nick personally didn’t know if the eccentric, carefree, reindeer would be the best babysitter for something as fragile as a sugar glider.

As for Finnick…they had no idea where he was.

            They were stumped when a sudden knocking had Nick standing up and walking to the door, opening it they were greeted by the sight of Amelia Wilde who smiled as soon as she saw her son.

“Mom,” Nick greeted with surprise as his mother wrapped him in a hug. “What are you doing?”

“What happened to your face?” Amelia gasped; Nick had removed his bandage this morning so the faint scars could be seen. He shook his head, unworried, “It’s a long story. So why are you here?”

 “I wanted to pay a visit,” the older fox explained, stepping into the apartment. “It’s been ages since I’ve gotten to see you and my favorite bunny.”  “Mrs. Wilde!” Judy gushed happily, jumping out of her chair and running into the fox’s awaiting arms. They shared a tight hug before Amelia pulled Judy back at arm’s length to look her over, “Still pretty as ever I see.” She glanced over to Nick, “You’re being good to my girl, aren’t you?”

Judy giggled while Nick rolled his eyes good-naturedly, “Of course I am, Mom.”

            Suzy started to fuss then, having been left at the kitchen table and Amelia’s jaw dropped when she saw the sugar glider. She looked to Judy then to her son then back.

“She’s not ours,” Judy said quickly. Once again Nick frowned at her panicky tone every time that subject was brought up.

As quickly as possible Judy told Amelia about Suzy Sugar and her missing mother.

 “Oh, I heard about that on the news,” Amelia hurried over to the baby’s side, her maternal instincts kicking in immediately despite years of being dormant. She picked up the sugar glider and started to soothe her, Suzy becoming comfortable in the fox’s arms, Judy imagined Amelia reminded the baby of Nick.

 “You two have work today, don’t you?” she turned to ask them. “Go on ahead, I can watch her today.”

 “Are you sure, Mom?” Nick asked, not wanting to take advantage of his mother’s good graces.

 “I haven’t held a baby in years,” Amelia stated, smiling fondly at Suzy. “I miss it; this little darling can keep me patient while I wait for grandkits.”

 Judy and Nick shared flustered looks before hurrying to get ready for work.

 

.

 

            They left Amelia and Suzy watching morning cartoons, arriving at the precinct and checking in with Clawhauser.

“So what’s this we heard about a betting pool?” Nick asked causally but with a sharp look as he leaned his elbows on the cheetah’s desk.

Clawhauser’s eyes widened, “How told you that?”

“That’s not the point,” Nick replied, “I imagine you got a good chunk of cash on this bet and I feel that, as the victims of this secret bet, Judy and I deserve a share.”

           At the corner of her eye Judy saw Wilfred stepped out of a door and smiling when he spotted them, frantically waving her over.

“What is it?” she asked, walking over to his side.

 “I just want to say how awesome I am,” the wolf grinned excitedly.

Judy cocked a brow, “Examples?”

 Wilfred pulled out a picture from his pocket and handed it to her, “I spotted _this_ when I was studying the hospital’s security footage.”

It took Judy a second to see what was off with the picture; it looked like an empty medicine room. But then she saw, at the left bottom corner, a flash of deep purple, staring at it she realized it the a jacket.

 “Good eye, Wilfred,” she smiled, “I never would’ve noticed that!”

The wolf’s eyes glowed with pride, “I zoomed in on it earlier and just managed to make out the brand, it’s a Preyda jacket.”

“Maybe from the mall?” Judy pondered aloud. “I suppose we can go ask and see if any suspicious characters bought a jacket of that shade?”

“It won’t be a long list,” Wilfred replied, shuddering. “That is the _worst_ shade of purple, if we don’t arrest them the fashion police will.”

 

.

 

            With Nick and Judy drove to the mall, she headed straight for Preyda. Nick, meanwhile, was going to Stagbucks to get some much needed caffeine.

Preyda was packed with expensive and stylish clothes for all different kinds of mammals. She walked to a counter with a computer and cash register and rang the service bell.

Almost instantly a head popped up from behind a counter, making her jump back.

“Oh, sorry, dear, didn’t mean to scare you.”

            It was a silver fox, a _very handsome_ silver fox with shining midnight blue eyes. He wore an expensive looking white shirt complete with a black scarf that was wrapped tightly around his neck.

He smiled lightly at Judy’s dumbfound expression. “Something wrong, sweet?”

“Oh-no, no, sorry,” Judy apologized, flustered. “I’m…I’m Officer Hopps. ZPD.”

He looked her up and down, “Impressive. I’m Ray Silver. Cashier. What can I do for you?”

Judy pulled out the photo and handed it to the fox, “Can you make out that jacket?”

The fox narrowed his eyes at the picture, his face thoughtful before morphing into distaste. “ _That_ is the ugliest piece of clothing this store owns.”

“But someone bought it?” Judy asked.

“Well, no one would bother stealing it,” the fox replied, stepping out from behind the counter to stand by her side and handed her the photo back. Judy still felt flustered, thinking the fox was standing a little _too_ close.

            “Tragically doll, I wasn’t on duty when some unstable mammal made the biggest mistake of his/her life.”

Before Judy could ask more the fox looked over her ears, his eyes widening slightly before his eye lids droop, “But speak of the devil, your answer has arrived.”

She turned around to see Nick walking in with two cups of coffee in his paws, beside him walked Winter Storme.

The white fox smiled when she saw the rabbit, “Hey, Judy! Great to see you!”

“Good to see you too,” Judy replied, but her smile faltered when she saw Nick’s expression. He was glaring at Ray and the rabbit remembered how close the silver fox was standing. She quickly stepped away and hurried to Nick’s side, accepting a cup of coffee, she tried to smile at him but Nick’s eyes remained on Ray.

The silver fox offered a friendly smile, “Oh, so _you_ two are the rabbit and fox my co-worker talks non-stop about.”

 Judy looked at Winter, “You work here?”

“Just a little part time thing,” she shrugged, “I like being around all these nice clothes.”

“Sven misses you,” Judy told her.

Winter let out a sigh, “I told him I’ll be back once Charlie goes back to training; he’s such a child. Anyway, Nick told me you two needed to get a list of our customers?”

 “Yeah,” Nick answered, his eyes still on Ray, “But it’s kind of classified.”

The fox blinked, “Oh, right, right. I’ll see you later Winter.” He winked at Judy, “Nice to meet you, Officer Hopps.” And then he was walking out the store, Nick’s eyes staying on him until he was out of sight.

 Judy showed Winter the picture, pointing out the jacket at the corner of the photograph.

“Oh, yeah,” Winter nodded, “That’s one of the _ugliest_ pieces of clothing we own, it’s that awful purple with splotches of neon bright orange.” She shuddered, “Only one mammal was crazy enough to buy it.”

 “What kind of mammal?” Judy asked, pulling out a notepad and pen.

“Technically it was two,” Winter said. “A hamster and a cat, but I could tell the feline knew bad fashion when she saw it.”

“Can you give us anything else?” Nick asked, “Fur color or something?”

“Wouldn’t a name be more helpful?” Winter asked with a cheeky grin.  “Oh, and do you?”

“I got the hamster’s name, he was very chatty. His name’s Rhino.”

 Judy and Nick looked at each other and then back to their friend.

“Rhino…” Nick spoke slowly, “…the hamster?”

 “Well, if you believe him to be an honest rodent his ancestry isn’t _all_ hamster, he’s one sixteenth wolf with a little wolverine in there somewhere…”

 

           

 

 


	11. Chaos in D48

            Surprisingly enough there weren’t a lot of hamsters in Zootopia by the name of Rhino, Clawhauser had managed to find his file with ease and texted them his address, which was room D48 at the Great Valley Apartments.

It only took a matter of minutes for Judy and Nick to make it to the apartments and find the room. Judy knocked on the door, wondering what kind of hamster Rhino was, besides one that thought he was too big to live in Little Rodentia.

            But instead of a hamster a black and white cat answered. She wore a deep red tank top and ripped shorts, her lazy expression quickly turned to alarm when she saw the two cops on her doorsteps.

 “Can-can I help you, Officers?” she stuttered, her fur on end.

“We’re looking for a hamster named Rhino,” Judy explained but didn’t get to speak further when the cat whirled around.

“RHINO! WHAT DID YOU DO!?”

 “I put the cheese puffs in the couch so I wouldn’t have to go to the kitchen during movie night. It’s called being futuristic, Mittens!”  The cat let out an embarrassed groan and tiredly ran a paw over her face before turning back to the cops, “Please tell me he didn’t do anything illegal? I promise you if he did, it was because he was having one of his regular episodes of stupidity.”

 “I’m sure it’s nothing, we just need to ask him some questions,” Judy said assuredly.

“So, can we come in?” Nick asked in a more commanding tone then a questionable one.

 “Right, right, sure, sure,” the cat, Mittens, mumbled as she stepped by to let them in. “Make yourself at home, sit wherever you want, except the couch.”

 The living room had a TV covered in colorful stickers, on one wall; across from it were a deep gray couch and a burgundy arm chair. Said chair was big enough for Judy and Nick to squeeze in together.

 Before the couch was a glass table covered in coffee stains and old bags of chips and sweets. And finishing off the room was a computer in one corner, drawings scattered over the desk in a much unorganized looking pile.

 Mittens was standing by the TV, fidgeting, “Rhino, get in here! We have visitors!”

“I take it you don’t talk to a lot of cops?” Nick came to the conclusion.

“Of course not,” the cat replied, “We’re civilized upstanding citizens.”

            Out of the hall came a brown and white hamster, sleepily rubbing his eyes. “I was trying to hibernate,” he told the cat.

“Hamsters don’t hibernate,” Mittens said flatly.

“I can _try_ ,” he replied sourly, “Anything’s possible as long as you don’t have _your_ bad attitude.”

 Mittens looked like she was praying for patience when she indicated to Nick and Judy, “These are-”

 Rhino let out a loud gasp that had the three larger mammals jumping. “I know you!” He scurried up onto the coffee table and was hyperventilating, his big eyes sparkling. “I know you!” He pointed at Judy, then to Nick, “And I know _you_ too!”

“How _do_ you know them?” Mittens asked warily, looking like she was expecting the worse.

 Rhino gave his roomie a disbelieving look and waved his paws frantically at the cops. “They’re _Judy Hopps_ and _Nick Wilde_! The super heroes of Zootopia!”

 “Super is kind of unnecessary,” Judy smiled awkwardly.

“But totally true,” Nick grinned.

            “Why are you here?” Rhino asked excitedly, turning back to them and jumping in place. “Are you here to listen to my conspiracy theories?”

“No,” Mittens said immediately, “No, no, you promised no more conspiracy theories after we got kicked out that museum.”

 “Have you bought anything from Preyda recently?” Judy asked.

The Rhino’s eyes bulged, “Did you catch the thief!?”

 Nick and Judy exchanged glances. “Thief?” Nick asked with narrowed eyes.

 The hamster nodded frantically, “Mittens and I were buying a jacket from Preyda for our roommate Bolt’s birthday, you’d love him he’s awesome, and when we stopped at a gas station Mittens and I left the car and when we got back-the jacket was gone!”  “Did you call it in?” Judy asked, pulling out her notepad and writing the hamster’s words down.

“Mittens did,” the hamster looked to his friend but frowned when the cat looked away awkwardly.

 “Yeah…about that…” the cat began, “I kinda…lied, so you would calm down.”

“Why would you do that?” Rhino gasped in shock.

 “Rhino, that was the _ugliest_ jacket I’ve ever seen. Bolt’s not going to want that. He doesn’t even _wear_ jackets!”

 The hamster pouted, “Well. Look who thinks she’s a bigger Bolt expert than me just because she’s madly in love with him.”

“That’s enough, Rhino,” the cat snapped, looking flustered.

 “Back to the missing jacket,” Nick broke in before the two could continue arguing. “Did you two see anything that looked suspicious?”

 “I saw the culprit!”  “Oh,” Judy smiled excitedly at the hamster, “What does he look like?”

“He’s big,” the hamster stated.

 Judy stared at him while Nick glanced at Mittens, his eyes asking if this hamster was for real, Mittens nodded forlornly. 

 “Can you, uh…give me more than that?” Judy asked, “Like, how big? Weasel big, lion big, elephant big?”

 “Hmmm…I _think_ he was a jaguar…maybe a leopard…” Rhino’s voice trailed off.

Nick and Judy were about to take their leave when Rhino added, “But he wore a leather jacket with a really weird symbol, Mittens drew a picture of it. She’s an artist, does commissions online, she’s really good.”

 As he spoke Mittens walked over to the computer desk and picked out a paper from the pile, bringing it over and handing it to Nick. The symbol looked like a moving windmill, a dark circle in the center of five sharp moving blades. Judy gasped, “That’s a gang sign!”

 The other three mammals looked at her, “ _What_?”

“I’ve seen it before when I was looking through some old case files; it’s the sign for the Felino gang.”

 She jumped up and placed the notepad in her pocket before taking Rhino’s tiny paws, “This is a great clue thank you so much!”

Rhino beamed ecstatically.

 “Question, if I may,” Mittens spoke up a little timidly, “ _Why_ is Rhino’s missing jacket a great clue?”

 “Let’s just say the guys who stole said jacket don’t mess around,” Nick answered as he stood up next to his partner.  “But let’s get to the precinct and learn more about this Felino gang.”

            The apartment door suddenly opened and in walked a handsome white-furred dog, wearing a stripped shirt and khakis. His brown eyes blinked in surprise when he spotted the rabbit and fox.

He looked to Rhino, “I thought you were over your conspiracy phase.”

“Oh you laugh,” the hamster said, “But not too long ago it was shock collars for predators was a very possible thing. Anyway, no, this is the legendary Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde. Legendary Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, meet my legendary roommate Bolt.”

 “Hi,” Judy offered a paw and the dog gave it a friendly shake. “Nice to meet you.”

He offered his paw to Nick but the fox was staring at him in disbelief, “Oh my God…”

The dog’s brow knit, “What is it?”

 “Are you that old TV star who thought he was a literal super dog?”

Embarrassment washed over Bolt’s features and Mittens fought back a snicker, covering her mouth with a paw.

 “Yeah…” Bolt began awkwardly, “I think you have the wrong dog.”

“Oh no, that was like the only news story I bothered to follow,” Nick went on, his amused grin growing. “You were like a star since you were a little kid so they let you believe it was real and you were super sheltered until you ‘escaped’ and took a cross country trip to find your true self and then you-”

 “Nick,” Judy broke in sharply, her heart going out to the canine’s mortified look. “That’s enough. Let’s go.”

 She smiled at the three roommates, “It was really nice to meet you all, thanks so much.”

 “Glad to be of help,” Mittens said in a soft voice, offering an uneasy grin.

“It was a pleasure to meet two new legends of AWESOME,” Rhino’s voice was loud and over-excited.

 “Wait…what did I miss?” Bolt looked around the four, “What did I miss while I was gone?”

 “It’s a long story,” Mittens began.

“A story we will take to our graves,” Rhino gave Mittens a significant look.

“No we won’t,” Mittens replied immediately, “Rhino bought you an ugly jacket for your birthday and it got stolen by a gangster.”

 “ _Mittens_!” Rhino gasped, “Do you ever keep a secret? How about I tell Bolt about your crush on-”

“Rhino I swear if you finish that sentence I will _eat_ you!”

            Nick and Judy left Bolt watching his arguing friends/roomies with severe and utter confusion.

 

_Inspired by moonturtle6 on Tumblr who has some amazing Zootopian Bolt art on her blog, go give it a look!_

Ch. 12: Never Turn Your Back

 

            The ZPD had only one member of the Felino gang locked up. A jaguar named Pedro.

They had called Clawhauser on the way to the precinct and the cheetah had found the jaguar’s case file by the time they had arrived.

Pedro had been accused of murder.

            “Do you think he’ll listen to us?” Nick asked his partner as they walked through the prison, passing different mammal with either hostility or indifference, though a couple looked amused.

“I don’t know,” Judy answered honestly as they followed a rhino prison guard down the hall. “Sir, what do you think?”

“I _know_ Pedro is unpredictable at best,” the rhino answered gruffly. “There’s a fifty percent chance he’ll help you.”

“But…?” Nick prompted.

“There’s also a fifty percent chance he’ll try to drag you into the cell with him to use you as a scratching post.”

“Any advice?” Judy asked while Nick shivered.

“Don’t stand too close to the bars.”

            They walked in silence for a few minutes before Nick spoke up again, “You know what familiar face I haven’t seen? Bellwether.”

The rhino looked over his shoulder at him, surprised. “You two didn’t know?”

“Know what?” they asked simultaneously.

“Bellwether’s therapist got her sent off. She’s out under house arrest in some country house.”

“Seriously?” Nick demanded, his lip curled.

“They took two of our predator inmates along to live with her. She’s trying to peacefully coexist with them.”

Nick snorted, having no qualms in sharing his opinion on those words.

            “Here we are,” the guard said, stopping at a cell. “Do you need me to stay?”

“I think we got it,” Judy told him.

“Alright, call if you need anything.” He walked off, leaving the two peering into the cell. It was dimly lit with twin cots and a toilet. There were numerous claw marks over the walls.

“Uh…hello?” Judy spoke up. “Pedro?”

 “Good afternoon.”

 From the top bunk slinked a jaguar, muscles rippling under his orange jumpsuit. He fixed his eyes on them and smiled pleasantly, but bared his fangs as he did so. “I haven’t had visitors since I arrived.” He walked forward and leaned against the bars. Nick and Judy wisely taking a step back.

“We actually came to ask you some questions,” Judy began.

The jaguar’s brow rose but his eyes seemed to darken. “Do you?”

“We have reason to believe a member of the Felino gang were involved in a crime.”

“Oh I’m sure they were,” the jaguar replied easily. “That’s kind of our thing.”

“Your thing is to steal the night howler antidote?” Nick asked, not trying to hide his sarcasm.

Pedro’s eyes widened, “ _What_?”

“You didn’t know?” Judy asked.

“I’ve been locked up here for _months_!” the giant cat snarled viciously. He clutched the bars between his paws, his long claws glinting. “Ever since that excuse of a leader _left_ me during that shoot out!”

 Judy had heard of the shootout he was talking about; she had been on the other side of Zootopia when it had happened. A few officers having been grievously wounded but thankfully no lives had been lost.

 Pedro’s fur was now standing on end and Judy knew they were losing any chance of getting information out of him.

“Then get back at him,” Nick spoke up. “tell us where their hideout is and we will personally put that entire pride in a cage.”

            Pedro stared at the fox, “I hate cops. You can never mind your own business…my parents died during a shootout with the ZPD, you know.”

Nick and Judy exchanged uncomfortable glances, the rabbit thought of offering her condolences but felt it would only make the predator angrier.

“But,” he continued. “I hate Felino more. They were supposed to be my pride and they left me for dead. And I can hardly get them back when I’m in here and they’re out there.”

 

.

 

            Pedro gave Judy the location of the Felino lair, an old warehouse in a deserted part of town. She and Bogo led a team to said warehouse while Nick stayed behind with the jaguar. Pedro wanted to immediately get the details when the ZPD took the gang down.

            “I hope someone gets shot,” the jaguar purred, lying across his top bunk once again, examining his claws. “I don’t really care who.”

Nick stood on the other side of the bars, looking at his blank phone. Waiting for Judy to call and tell him everything went according to plan, and she was perfectly fine even though she had gone off without him…

“What’s it like?” Pedro asked out of the blue.

Nick looked up at him, “What’s what like?”

“Being the only fox on the force? It must be at least a little frustrating surely? Something goes missing from the office fridge and everyone blames you?”

Nick rolled his eyes but didn’t respond, he wasn’t going to let the cat get to him.

“I can tell the way you hold yourself. You and I aren’t so different. You were on the other side of the law too.”

Nick turned and glared at the jaguar. “Maybe but I’m not the one whose behind bars right now.”

Pedro bared his fangs, “And I’m not the one drowning in guilt right now.”

“What?” Nick demanded.

“You can’t fool me fox, I’ve lived with murdered and thieves. I can _smell_ the guilt on your fur.”  

He turned his head away, not answering. Pedro laughed softly.

            Just then Nick’s phone rang and he quickly answered it. “Hello?”

“Nick,” came Judy’s voice and he sagged with relief.

“Carrots, you okay? How’d it go?”

“I’m fine,” she answered, sounding distracted. “But this warehouse is empty.”

 Nick glowered at Pedro who was watching him. “The warehouse is empty, you say?”

The jaguar’s eyes widened in shock, jumping off the cot and walking over, his face a mask of disbelief.

“I mean,” Judy went on, “There are a few pallets and empty foods can around so mammals _were_ living here but it’s deserted now, it’s like they all left in a big hurry. But the weirdest thing is that right in the middle of the floor are these words spray painted in red.” Her voice had started to sound unnerved as she finished talking.

“What do they say?” he asked her, Pedro’ ears pricked with curiosity.

“I’ll send a picture.”

            She sent said picture via message, showing four words spray painted on a dirty gray floor. It was only four words: “Never turn your back.”

Nick swallowed, his throat closing in as he stared at the picture, as if looking at it long enough would make it disappear.

Pedro looked over Nick’s shoulder to glance at the picture, but his confused scowl quickly turned into a grin when he saw the fox’s expression. “How’s that guilt, Officer?”

 

 

 

 


	12. Never Turn Your Back

                The ZPD had only one member of the Felino gang locked up. A jaguar named Pedro.

They had called Clawhauser on the way to the precinct and the cheetah had found the jaguar’s case file by the time they had arrived.

Pedro had been accused of murder.

                “Do you think he’ll listen to us?” Nick asked his partner as they walked through the prison, passing different mammal with either hostility or indifference, though a couple looked amused.

“I don’t know,” Judy answered honestly as they followed a rhino prison guard down the hall. “Sir, what do you think?”

“I know Pedro is unpredictable at best,” the rhino answered gruffly. “There’s a fifty percent chance he’ll help you.”

“But…?” Nick prompted.

“There’s also a fifty percent chance he’ll try to drag you into the cell with him to use you as a scratching post.”

“Any advice?” Judy asked while Nick shivered.

“Don’t stand too close to the bars.”

                They walked in silence for a few minutes before Nick spoke up again, “You know what familiar face I haven’t seen? Bellwether.”

The rhino looked over his shoulder at him, surprised. “You two didn’t know?”

“Know what?” they asked simultaneously.

“Bellwether’s therapist got her sent off. She’s out under house arrest in some country house.”

“Seriously?” Nick demanded, his lip curled.

“They took two of our predator inmates along to live with her. She’s trying to peacefully coexist with them.”

Nick snorted, having no qualms in sharing his opinion on those words.

                “Here we are,” the guard said, stopping at a cell. “Do you need me to stay?”

“I think we got it,” Judy told him.

“Alright, call if you need anything.” He walked off, leaving the two peering into the cell. It was dimly lit with twin cots and a toilet. There were numerous claw marks over the walls.

“Uh…hello?” Judy spoke up. “Pedro?”

 “Good afternoon.”

 From the top bunk slinked a jaguar, muscles rippling under his orange jumpsuit. He fixed his eyes on them and smiled pleasantly, but bared his fangs as he did so. “I haven’t had visitors since I arrived.” He walked forward and leaned against the bars. Nick and Judy wisely taking a step back.

“We actually came to ask you some questions,” Judy began.

The jaguar’s brow rose but his eyes seemed to darken. “Do you?”

“We have reason to believe a member of the Felino gang were involved in a crime.”

“Oh I’m sure they were,” the jaguar replied easily. “That’s kind of our thing.”

“Your thing is to steal the night howler antidote?” Nick asked, not trying to hide his sarcasm.

Pedro’s eyes widened, “What?”

“You didn’t know?” Judy asked.

“I’ve been locked up here for months!” the giant cat snarled viciously. He clutched the bars between his paws, his long claws glinting. “Ever since that excuse of a leader left me during that shoot out!”

 Judy had heard of the shootout he was talking about; she had been on the other side of Zootopia when it had happened. A few officers having been grievously wounded but thankfully no lives had been lost.

 Pedro’s fur was now standing on end and Judy knew they were losing any chance of getting information out of him.

“Then get back at him,” Nick spoke up. “tell us where their hideout is and we will personally put that entire pride in a cage.”

                Pedro stared at the fox, “I hate cops. You can never mind your own business…my parents died during a shootout with the ZPD, you know.”

Nick and Judy exchanged uncomfortable glances, the rabbit thought of offering her condolences but felt it would only make the predator angrier.

“But,” he continued. “I hate Felino more. They were supposed to be my pride and they left me for dead. And I can hardly get them back when I’m in here and they’re out there.”

 

.

 

                Pedro gave Judy the location of the Felino lair, an old warehouse in a deserted part of town. She and Bogo led a team to said warehouse while Nick stayed behind with the jaguar. Pedro wanted to immediately get the details when the ZPD took the gang down.

                “I hope someone gets shot,” the jaguar purred, lying across his top bunk once again, examining his claws. “I don’t really care who.”

Nick stood on the other side of the bars, looking at his blank phone. Waiting for Judy to call and tell him everything went according to plan, and she was perfectly fine even though she had gone off without him…

“What’s it like?” Pedro asked out of the blue.

Nick looked up at him, “What’s what like?”

“Being the only fox on the force? It must be at least a little frustrating surely? Something goes missing from the office fridge and everyone blames you?”

Nick rolled his eyes but didn’t respond, he wasn’t going to let the cat get to him.

“I can tell the way you hold yourself. You and I aren’t so different. You were on the other side of the law too.”

Nick turned and glared at the jaguar. “Maybe but I’m not the one whose behind bars right now.”

Pedro bared his fangs, “And I’m not the one drowning in guilt right now.”

“What?” Nick demanded.

“You can’t fool me fox, I’ve lived with murdered and thieves. I can smell the guilt on your fur.”

He turned his head away, not answering. Pedro laughed softly.

                Just then Nick’s phone rang and he quickly answered it. “Hello?”

“Nick,” came Judy’s voice and he sagged with relief.

“Carrots, you okay? How’d it go?”

“I’m fine,” she answered, sounding distracted. “But this warehouse is empty.”

 Nick glowered at Pedro who was watching him. “The warehouse is empty, you say?”

The jaguar’s eyes widened in shock, jumping off the cot and walking over, his face a mask of disbelief.

“I mean,” Judy went on, “There are a few pallets and empty foods can around so mammals were living here but it’s deserted now, it’s like they all left in a big hurry. But the weirdest thing is that right in the middle of the floor are these words spray painted in red.” Her voice had started to sound unnerved as she finished talking.

“What do they say?” he asked her, Pedro’ ears pricked with curiosity.

“I’ll send a picture.”

                She sent said picture via message, showing four words spray painted on a dirty gray floor. It was only four words: “Never turn your back.”

Nick swallowed, his throat closing in as he stared at the picture, as if looking at it long enough would make it disappear.

Pedro looked over Nick’s shoulder to glance at the picture, but his confused scowl quickly turned into a grin when he saw the fox’s expression. “How’s that guilt, Officer?”

 

 

 

 


	13. The Flash-est of Them All

“Maybe they just moved,” Judy said, talking about the Felino gang.

“Maybe right after that shoot out Pedro talk about?”

“Maybe,” Nick replied in a quiet, distracted voice.

The sky was darkening as they made their way home in the car. Nick has his face pressed against the window, watching the blurred buildings as they passed; his eyes dark.

“Are you okay?” Judy asked worriedly, glancing at him from the corner of her eye.

“Yeah, just a little frustrated,” he offered her a small smile, “Dead ends are the worse.”

 “They can’t hide from us forever,” Judy assured him confidently, “We _are_ ZPD’s finest after all.”

He chuckled softly, “Yeah, we are.”

            At the apartment they found Amelia walking around the living room, a sleeping Suzy in her arms as she sang a soft lullaby.

She smiled at the two, “How’d it go?”

 “Not that great,” Judy admitted. “How was Suzy?”

“She was the perfect little angel,” Amelia said softly.

 Nick stepped forward and stifled a yawn, “Are you staying the night, Mom?”

“Would that be okay?” Amelia asked. “I’ve recently found out I desperately miss being a mother.”

 Judy smiled at her, “We’d love that.”

“I’ll set up the guest room,” Nick replied, disappearing down the hall.

 “Where will the baby sleep?” Amelia asked, following Judy into the kitchen as the rabbit fetched herself a glass of water.

 “Last night she just slept with Nick and me,” she answered. “We don’t mind.”

 “She can sleep with me,” Amelia offered.

“No, it’s okay,” Judy said, knowing the guest bed was much smaller than the bed she shared with Nick. “Besides, I think she helps Nick sleep easier.”

Amelia smiled, “He used to sneak into bed with me and Max when he was a kit, always helped me sleep.”

 “I think he’d be a good father,” Judy admitted to her.

Amelia’s smile widened excitedly, “I think so too. Now we just have to convince him, of course, after the wedding-”

 “Are you two talking about me?” Nick asked as he walked into the room.

“Of course not,” they said in unison.

 Nick looked them both suspiciously, “You know, it’s a real shame when I can’t trust my own mother and girlfriend.”

 “Oh, you know you can trust us,” Amelia said, placing Suzy in Nick’s arms. “Now if you excuse me I need my beauty sleep.”

 She walked off and Nick looked back at Judy, “Sleep?”

She nodded, “Sleep.”

 

.

 

            Judy’s cellphone buzzed loudly, waking her and telling her she had a call. Judy’s eyes blinked open and she yawned, rubbing said eyes and wondering why her body felt so heavy. She found her answer when she realized Nick had at one point sprawled over her back in the middle of the night. Suzy was sleeping in the middle of his vacant pillow, curled up and peaceful, her rattle hugged between her paws.

 “Nick,” she moaned, trying to crawl out from under his heavy body, “Get off.”

Nick mumbled something unintelligible in his sleep before finally rolling off her. Judy reached out to the bed side drawer and answered the call, “Yes?”

“Judy?” Fru Fru’s worried voice spoke up, instantly waking up the bunny.

 “What’s wrong?” she slid off the bed, heading to her closet to hurry and get dressed.

 “Billy’s gone.”

 “What do you mean?”

“Daddy let him drive home to get some things from his house,” Fru Fru explained, “He offered to get one of our drivers to take him but he said he didn’t need it. He left and he hasn’t been back all morning.”

 “Oh, Fru Fru I’ll-” her voice stopped when her phone beeped, she was getting another call. She checked the screen, it was the precinct. “Fru Fru, the precinct’s calling; I’ll tell them about Billy.” She hung up and answered the call, “Hello?”

 “Hey, Jude the Dude,” Wilfred greeted.

“Wilfred?” she spoke in surprise, “…How do you know that nickname?”

“Well, according to the word around the precinct, your dad told Nick, Nick told Clawhauser, and Clawhauser told me…and I told everyone else.”

 “Oh my God,” Judy placed her paw over her face.

“Hey now, there’s nothing wrong with a father calling his baby girl a boy,” he laughed.

“Wilfred, why did you call me?”

 “Oh right! I was looking through the traffic cameras from last night and…you and Nick need to see this.”

 

.

 

            Judy and Nick watched the security screen with Wilfred that showed a quiet road in Tundra Town. A red car appeared on the road, driving slowly through the snow. Then quite suddenly a dark green car appeared out of nowhere to crash into the back of the scarlet vehicle, stopping it immediately.

Out of the red car stumbled Billy Beardby, the goat tried to hurry away but then a figure dressed all in black rushed out of the other car and slammed into Billy, holding him to the ground.

Billy struggled as two more figures in dark clothing got out of the car and headed to the goat. The taller one glancing up at the traffic camera as if mocking them, then the three grabbed hold of the struggling goat, but they didn’t return to their car, the engine having been totaled in the crash. They dragged Billy through the snow and out of the camera’s vision.

            “We need that car’s license plate,” Judy told Nick, stepping away from the computer’s screen. “We need to know its owner.” She and Nick looked to Wilfred.

The wolf looked away, “Yeah…the system’s been a little wonky; we can’t run any plates at the moment.”

“What happened?” Nick demanded. “Someone spilled some coffee…”

The two looked at him with droll looks and the wolf’s ears drooped, “ _I_ spilled some coffee.”

            Nick looked to Judy, “You know what this means.”

Judy stared at him in horror. “No,” she whispered.

“We gotta, Carrots.”

Judy moaned but nodded, “This isn’t going to be my day.”

 

.

 

            The two went to the DMV that was packed more than usual. But luckily for them Flash’s window was free.

And sitting next to him was a younger sloth who looked ecstatic to be there.

“Nick,” Flash greeted as the two walked over. “…Hi.”

“Good to see you Flash, flash, one hundred yard dash,” Nick greeted with a smile before looking down at the smaller sloth. “And little Dash.”

Exactly nine months after Flash’s wedding he and Priscilla had a son, though Nick had been put out he wasn’t named the godfather. He had asked why and Flash had explained that he apparently still found it hard to see Nick as ‘responsible’ considering he knew him in high school. Nick didn’t say anything more after that.

            Flash patted his son’s head. “It is…take…your….kid…to…work…day. Dash…say…hi.” Nick glanced at Judy as Dash began his introduction and how happy he was to be working with his dad. “How are you holding up, Carrots?” he whispered.

Judy wore a painful smile as she kept her eyes on the two sloths and didn’t reply.

“How can…” Flash began when his son was done saying hi, “I…help…”

Judy began, “Well, we were hoping-”

“You,” Flash finished.

 Judy blinked and then looked to Nick who chuckled at her expression before looking at his old friend, “We need you to run a plate just like the old times.”

Flash nodded, “What’s…the…plate?”

The two waited for Flash to say ‘number’ for a good few minutes before realizing he wasn’t going to. Judy quickly recited the license plate of the green car and Flash began his slow typing. Judy impatiently drumming her fingers on the table as Nick watched her, loving this feel of nostalgia.

Flash let Dash type in the last number (which looked to have made the young sloth’s day) before he printed out the name of the car’s owner.

Judy read it aloud: “One Darwin Mosby, an armadillo.”

“Wait,” Nick broke in, his face scrunched up in thought. “I know that name that’s…” His eyes bulged, “Carrots, that’s on the name plate of the landlord for the Hill.”

 

           


	14. Part of Your World

Nick had planned on taking great pleasure in tearing into that armadillo, wanting to see him flounder for a reason on why a group of kidnappers had his car and he didn’t call it in.

But Darwin Mosby wasn’t at home; his wife (who seemed much friendlier) told them he was having his day off at the Mystic Spring Oasis.

            “It really is _not_ my day,” Judy moaned to herself as they walked into the building. Yax, letting it all hang out as usual, was leaving his front desk when he spotted them.

“Oh, hey man,” Yax greeted, mellow as ever. “I remember you, you ever find Otterton?”

“Yes, we did,” Judy replied, making sure to not break eye contact with him. “But now we’re looking for Darwin Mosby.”

“Yeah he just went in,” the yak answered. “But sorry Officer, only members of the naturalist club allowed in today.”

 “Okay, how long until you close?”

“Eight hours.”

Judy’s ears drooped in dismay, but then Nick stepped forward. “Mr. Yax, I need to confess something to you.” The yak and rabbit looked at the fox with interest.

“To be painfully honest,” Nick began and then inhaled a shuddering breath, “I’ve always wanted to be a naturalist.”

He exhaled loudly as Judy stared at him. “Phew, it feels so good to get that off my chest.”

“What stopped ya?” Yax asked with his complete attention on the fox.

“I was afraid,” Nick went on mournfully. “And…ashamed…about what other mammals would think. But you know what? I’ve been denying it for so long and I just don’t care anymore!”

 He clutched his paws together as if to pray and looked at the yak beseechingly, “Let me be part of your world!”

                         Judy’s jaw had unhinged at some point during Nick’s confession, too preoccupied with her shock to hear whatever Nick and Yax said next. But she quickly came back to her senses when Nick slid his shirt off.

“Nick,” Judy whirled around, covering her eyes as the room got sweltering hot. “What are you _doing_?!”

 She felt the fox’s lips on her ear as he whispered, “Keep my uniform clean, and if I’m not our in an hour send in a rescue team.”

She listened to the two walk off into the oasis, when the room went quiet she finally uncovered her eyes and turned around to see Nick’s entire outfit at her feet.

 

.

 

                         Nick was perfectly fine when every other mammal was in the nude, but when _he_ was, well…that was different.

But he had a job to do, so flustered as he was he followed the yak into the courtyard of beyond free mammals.

Yax went to talk to a semi-familiar looking elephant, and Nick started to scan the crowd. There was a female fox there as well, that winked when she caught his eye. He had to remind himself _not_ to mention that to Judy.

                         He finally spotted the armadillo, talking to a bear and made his way over to him. “Darwin Mosby!” Nick called; the armadillo’s eyes bulged when he spotted the fox. The bear gave a lazy wave and walked off to scratch his back on a tree.

“I wasn’t aware you were a part of the naturalist club,” Darwin said in his usual snobby voice.

Nick curled his lip, “And I wasn’t aware you’d lie to the police.”

The armadillo’s eyes widened yet again, “W-What?”  “Tell me, Darwin,” Nick began, “And this time be honest: Why didn’t you call the police when your car was stolen? Or, a better question, did you give it to the mammals that kidnapped Eleanor Sugar?”

“I-I,” the armadillo stuttered. “I-I didn’t know they had taken Eleanor.”

“Darwin,” Nick’s growl was a low warning.

“I’m being honest!” the armadillo insisted desperately. “I was scared, terrified, they knew who I was. They knew my home address, my wife’ name, where my children went to school! They only said they were going to rob a few rooms! I didn’t know they were going to kidnap anyone, I was only trying to protect my family!”

Nick’s eyes narrowed, “Who is they, Darwin?”

“I only saw one’s face: she was a hyena. With…with a scar on her cheek.”

Nick stumbled back as if he had been struck, and it took a number of seconds for him to remember how to talk. But all that came out was a weak: “O-oh.”

“I wanted to call in but the things they threatened if I tried to tell _anyone_! You can’t let them know I told you!”

“I won’t,” Nick promised, turning and walking away, ready to get out of there.

                         But life wasn’t always that easy. Yax appeared in front of him, his arms spread out invitingly and a new wave of dread washed over the fox.

“We have a new member of the family!” he yelled to all the nearby ears. “Let’s welcome him with a big group hug.”

Nick’s eyes widened and he swallowed. _Uh-oh_.

 


	15. Where Are You, Eleanor

It was a cold cage, the icy steel seeping through the fur of her belly as she lay curled right in the middle of her personal little prison. She had stopped occupying the corners of the cage after her new roommates moved in.

            It was a pack of large cats that were loud and always tried to break through the bars of their cage, being detailed when they screamed at their captors what they would do when they finally escaped. Eleanor wished she had their optimism.

But she didn’t care about her freedom; she’d happily stay in this cage for the rest of her days if only she knew where her baby was. The only comfort being that if Suzy was captured her captor wouldn’t keep it a secret.

That was definitely one thing she knew about the mammal who had staged her kidnapping. But the one thing she wanted to know was why she had been taken in the first place? Looking at the feral cats around her she wondered if it had to do with the Night Howlers, not that this pack needed the plants to be wild.

            The sounds of a struggle had her peering through her bars, whatever building she was in her cage rested on the second floor, letting her see down below where a door opened and in walked her kidnappers, dragging someone kicking behind them. It was a goat.

 “Let me go!” he screeched, trying to wrestle out of the three mammals’ strong grip. “What do you think you’re doing? You’re the ones Marvin knew, aren’t you!? _What did you do to my brother_!?”

            “Billy Beardby.”

The voice of her captor had a shiver run down Eleanor’s spine. He appeared suddenly by her cage, bending down to be at eye level with her, but his gaze didn’t leave the goat on the ground floor. Eleanor looked at the goat as well; she had heard that name before. He was a big time inventor and the expression on his face matched hers when she realized who her captor was.

“Glad to finally meet you face to face,” the subjugator grinned. “Now that you’re here the party can finally get started. I have a little invention I need you to perfect and mass produce, my friends will help you.” He nodded to the three mammals that held the goat; they lowered their head in subjugation. And then he turned his gaze on Eleanor, “And I need you to start making some antidotes, darling. I have a very big plan and you two are going to help me see it through.”

He stood up and out of his pockets came two items, one a steel ring-shaped object big enough to fit a mammal’s neck, and the other a vial of familiar looking blue serum.

“Let’s get started.”

 

.

 

            Nick and Judy made it back to the precinct, the rabbit abuzz that they finally had a specific mammal to hunt down. With Clawhauser’s help they printed out the files to every hyena in Zootopia, making a stack that reached Judy’s thigh.

The cheetah was interested to know how they had found said clue.

“We’re just that good,” Nick said quickly, sending a look to Judy. His partner only nodded, from how quiet she had been since she picked him up he guessed she wanted to forget the whole thing just as quick as him.

            Feeling a presence behind him Nick looked over his shoulder to see Aaron, his eyes bright and curious. He reminded Nick of Judy when they first met and she was a starry-eyed meter maid. She was still starry-eyed of course, just no longer a meter maid.

“Hyenas?” Aaron looked to Judy, his face a question mark.

Judy nodded, “We finally have a lead to the Eleanor Sugar case.”

“Good for you,” the deer smiled. “Hope the lead leads to a cracked case.”

Nick looked down at the stack of files in his paws. He believed Darwin Mosby; one of the hyenas in this stack helped kidnap Eleanor Sugar…and if she was behind it then so were the others. Faces he thought he had left behind years ago, awful memories resurfaced and Nick glanced at Judy who was waving goodbye to the departing Aaron.

What would she say if she saw these memories? He really didn’t want to find out.

“Nick? Nick, you okay?”

 He started when he realized Judy had turned her attention to him.

“Sorry, what?”

“Let’s get some lunch,” she told him, placing her paw on his arm in comfort. “We can look through the files while we eat.”

Nick nodded. “That sounds like heaven,” he answered honestly.

            Saying a quick goodbye to Clawhauser Judy nearly dragged the fox out of the building. He kept his eyes on her as they walked.

When this case was over odds were his rabbit would know things he’d have rather kept buried. But Nick knew if he could stop her from ever knowing, he would.

           


	16. The Unusuals

Judy made herself comfortable on a park bench, the files they had collected in a cheap satchel she picked up while they found food. She didn’t want to carry a pile of papers around a windy park.

Nick sat beside her, holding a bag from Bob’s Burga that had recently added a prey menu. He pulled out a carrot stick and handed it to Judy who took it without looking at him, already pulling out the first file. Nick glanced at the hyena on the picture but didn’t recognize her.

 “Jasiri Happy,” Judy read aloud. “Arrested for thievery and picking fights with gangs, says here she acts like a sort of vigilante.”

 “Hm,” Nick hummed, taking a bite of his burger. “Unless she has a thing against prey I don’t see a self-proclaimed vigilante kidnapping Eleanor Sugar.”

Judy nodded in agreement, “We need to see if any of these hyenas work at the hospital and have access to the computers.”

 While Nick finished his meal Judy kept flipping through the profiles, muttering to herself as she accepted the sticks of carrots and chips of lettuce the fox handed her. Every time she picked up a new file Nick’s heart jolted in panic, waiting anxiously to see a familiar face.

            But just then a brown blur jumped into Nick’s lap, nearly startling the life out of him and Judy who jumped in surprise.

 “Suzy?!” Judy gasped, staring at the young sugar glider who gazed up at Nick adoringly.

“What are you doing here?” Nick asked, tossing the empty Bob’s Burga bag into a nearby trash bin before picking up the baby, standing up as he did so.

 “Nick, Judy!” Amelia’s voice had them looking up to see the fox hurrying over to them.

“Is everything okay, Mrs. Wilde?” Judy asked, placing the files back in the satchel before standing up to join Nick’s side.

 “Everything’s fine,” Amelia assured as she reached them. “I just wanted Suzy to have some fresh air and when she spotted you she jumped right out of my arms.”

 Judy smirked at the sugar glider who had snuggled into Nick’s chest, “I think she might just love your son more than we do.” Nick rolled his eyes as the two laughed.

            “What are you two doing in the park?” Amelia asked them.

“We were having lunch and looking through some files,” Judy answered, glancing at the satchel around her shoulder, “But I guess if Suzy’s here we can take a break.”

“There’s no need,” Amelia quickly assured her. “You need to-”

 Suddenly Suzy’s ears twitched and she jumped out of Nick’s arms, rushing across the grass.

 “Suzy, come back!” Judy yelped as the three gave chase.

“I feel like we need to get this kid a leash,” Nick moaned but then his eyes widened as he spotted who the sugar glider was running to.

            Suzy let out a happy trill and jumped on the guitar-playing fennec fox.

Finnick let out a surprise noise and stumbled onto his tail, his small audience chuckling at the sight before continuing on their way now that the music has stopped.

“What the-” Finnick scowled but his voice halted when he spotted Nick and Judy.

“Hey, Fin,” Nick greeted his old pal while Judy picked Suzy off him.

 Finnick stared at Nick, “What happened to your _face_?”

“Battle scar,” Nick replied, running his paw over the scars. “Cool, huh?”

Finnick rolled his eyes, “Yeah, whatever. Why-”

 “Oh my word,” Amelia suddenly spoke up, having been staring at the small fox with surprise. “Little Finnick?”

 The fox’s eyes widened at the sight of Amelia, “Mrs. A?”

 Amelia rushed over and wrapped the little fox into a hug, “Oh, it’s been years! Look at how big you’ve grown!”

Judy shared a disbelieving look with Nick that made the red fox chuckle. Meanwhile Finnick was awkwardly returning Amelia’s hug, his large ears red.

 “Let him go, Mom. You’re embarrassing him,” Nick told Amelia. She finally released Finnick, smiling at him like he was her son as well.

“I can’t help it; I haven’t seen you since you were a little kit. How are you?”

“G-Good,” Finnick stammered, still looking flustered. “I’ve started a band.” This was news to Nick and Judy, the rabbit smiled at him. “Did you? That’s so great.”

Her partner looked around skeptically. “Where’s the rest of your band?” Nick asked.

            Just then two mammals rushed over nearly tackling into Judy who Nick quickly grabbed and pulled back. It was a platypus and a squirmy fruit bat.

“Finnick!” the platypus spoke in a thick accent, “You didn’t sell anymore illegal pawpsicles did you?”

“Because you promised us you’d let us in on it!” the bat said indignantly.

 Finnick face-pawed with a deep suffering look, “I’m not selling anything you idiots, this is Nick Wilde, his rabbit, and his mother, and…” he looked at Suzy, “A…sugar glider?”

 “Long story,” Nick replied. He looked to the platypus and bat, “Hi.”

“G’day,” the platypus replied.

But then the large bat rushed to Nick and stared at him with open shock, “ _You’re_ Nick Wilde? _The_ Nick Wilde?”

 “Heard about the Night Howler case, huh?” he asked with an easy grin.

But the bat shook his head fervidly. “No, no, Finnick talks about you all the time!”

Nick’s brows rose and he smirked at his old friend, “Really?”  “Fidget, shut up!” Finnick scowled, his ears turning red once again.

 “Well you _do_ ,” the platypus laughed, he stepped forward and offered his webbed paw to the cop. “I’m Perry Agent. I play bass.”

Nick shook his paw as did Amelia and Judy. Then the bat waved his wings excitedly, making Suzy laugh. “I’m Fidget! I play electric keyboard, I’m pretty awesome!”

 “What’s your band’s name?” Judy asked with a smile.

 Fidget wrapped his large wings around Finnick and Perry, “We’re the Unusuals!” Nick’s tilted his head to the side, “The Unusuals?”

 “Yeah,” Fidget continued, “Because I’m a winged mammal, Perry’s a mammal that lays eggs-”

“I don’t, my species does.”

 “-And Finnick…well, to me he’s like a fox, rat, rabbit hybrid.”

Finnick scowled and Perry rolled his eyes.

 Judy shared an amused look with Nick who looked ready to burst out laughing.

 “That’s cute,” Amelia said kindly.

Finnick glanced away and muttered, “It’s not exactly supposed to be cute…”

.

 

            The group ended up sitting at a park table, Nick and Finnick chatting about old times while Judy and Amelia politely listened to Fidget and Perry rave about the band. Suzy meanwhile jumped from one lap to another.

 “Wanna know how legit we are?” Fidget asked the two.

“Tell us,” Judy said.

“We’re opening for _Gazelle_ at her next concert.”

Judy’s eyes widened, impressed, “That’s…really cool, guys.”

“Yeah it would be if our drummer hadn’t just quit on us to go get married! That jerk! Now we need to find another unusual mammal that can play drums! Know anybody?”

            Meanwhile Finnick had caught on to Nick’s anxious attitude. “What’s wrong?”

He glanced over to Judy and Amelia who were having their ears chatted off by Fidget while Perry watched in amusement.

 “I think…some old mistakes of mine are coming back,” Nick breathed. “And I’m not sure what to do.”

 “Have you told your bunny?” Finnick asked, “I’m sure she can take care of you.”  “Judy doesn’t need to know,” Nick replied, his eyes glancing away evasively.

Finnick frowned, “That’s new. I figured you shared everything with that bunny.”

 Nick swallowed, glancing once more at Judy, the look on his face telling Finnick all he needed to know.

 “I won’t say anything,” the smaller fox promised. “But if it’s bothering you this much…you can’t leave it alone.”

Nick nodded, “I know, I’ll figure it out, _without_ telling her.”

 Finnick rolled his eyes, then decided to try and distract his friend. He smirked, “So, how is she?”

 Nick’s brow knit, “What do you mean?”

“You know,” Finnick nodded to her, “How is she…in bed?”

 Nick spluttered, “None of your business!”

Finnick broke into laughter, “Don’t tell me you’re one of those wait until marriage kind of guys.”

 When Nick didn’t answer he only laughed harder, “You’ll die a virgin.”

            Suddenly Suzy jumped onto the smaller fox’s head, making his laughter cut short. Nick quickly grabbed the infant before she could jump away, “Hey, little rascal. Stop using us as your own personal jumping trees.” He tickled Suzy’s belly and the baby squealed with mirth, catching Judy’s attention who smiled at them warmly.

Judy’s ears then twitched and she looked over her shoulder across the park. Nick followed her gaze to see an ice cream truck stopping across the park, attracting a number of customers.

 Nick smiled down at Suzy, “Want some ice cream, rascal?”

The sugar glider smiled up at him.

 “Go ahead and get her some, Nick,” Judy told him. “Then we really need to head back to the precinct and keep looking through the files.”

            Standing up Nick said his goodbyes to the Unusuals who needed to keep looking for a new drummer, and headed off to the ice cream truck with Suzy on his shoulder. All the while dark green eyes watched him from across the street.

 

 

 


	17. Red

            The elephant handed Suzy the chocolate cone while Nick fished out his money, nodding to the elephant before he tried to step out of the crowd. Turns out that wouldn’t be so easy as a very large horde had apparently been dying from lack of ice cream and were all crowded around the truck. And with only one elephant in said vehicle the crowd wouldn’t be parting anytime soon.

            “Guess we’re stuck here for a while, squirt,” Nick told Suzy. The little sugar glider was too busy enjoying her ice cream atop his shoulder to pay him any mind. Nick huffed with amusement, any other time he would’ve managed to slip out of the mob but he didn’t want to risk Suzy dropping her cone.

Placing his paws in his pockets he leaned back on his heels and hummed, listening to Suzy messily eat her ice cream as mammals from bears to armadillos flocked around him. And then he felt hot breath in his ear: “Hello, Red.”

            Nick’s hear dropped immediately and it took all his willpower to glance to his left. A maned wolf stood beside him his leather jacket unable to hide how scrawny he was and a black scarf wrapped tight around his neck, said neck leaned forward slightly to be at eye level with the fox, dark green eyes lit with mirth as his lips twisted up into a smirk, showing his fangs.

Nick tried to swallow but his throat had become as dry as Sahara Square, “Mor-Moriarty Mane…?”

 “No need to be so scared, Red,” the wolf assured. “Can’t an old friend say hi without it being a big deal?”

But it was, it was a very bad, very _big_ deal, and if they hadn’t been surrounded by a crowd Nick would run far, far away.

Moriarty’s eyes sharpened ever so slightly, “Even if said old friend ran off without so much as a goodbye. Even if said old friend was stupid enough to believe an artic shrew with a pack of polar bears could keep him safe from me.”

Nick’s heart hurt it was pounding so hard, Suzy, who had been busy devouring her ice cream, took one look at the maned wolf and buried herself in the fur of Nick’s neck, her entire body shaking, he couldn’t blame her.

 Moriarty glanced at the sugar glider, “Cute kid.”

Nick took a step back bumping into a grizzly who glared before moving away. “What do you want?”

Moriarty straightened, “I told you, I wanted to say hi. I heard about your little adventure, became a cop and fell in love in one year. Impressive.”

 Nick’s ears fell flat against his skull but he tried to keep a brave face, “That’s right. And if you try anything I can very easily have you arrested.”

Moriarty barked a raw laugh, startling nearby mammals who shed away. He fixed Nick in a mercilessly cold gaze despite his smile, “Do it, Red. Arrest me and the pack. I dare you. I’ll even tell you where the others are. Because you know what we’ll do as soon as we’re in custody.” His grin stretched even farther. “We’ll blab. We aren’t the only ones with…for the lack of a better word- _blood_ , on our paws Wilde.”

 He stepped forward so suddenly Nick had no chance to try and move, he was nose to nose with the wolf he had thought he had left behind years ago. But now he was here, telling him his worst nightmare.

“My question is not if you can arrest me, Red. It’s can you handle letting that rabbit know what you did. It’s if you can trust that she won’t look at you in terror and run away.”

 There was a lump in his throat and he couldn’t answer. Moriarty pulled away. “That’s all I had to say. Ray told me he saw you and I just had to hunt you down myself.” He grinned, “It’s been nostalgic my little criminal, see you around.”

 The crowd finally started to part and Moriarty turned to leave, “And remember, Red, you stab my back…I go straight for your heart.” And then he was gone.

            Judy and Amelia found Nick standing by the ice cream truck, his fur on end as he mechanically patted Suzy’s back who looked to be in better shape than the fox.

“What happened?” Judy hurried to his side and grabbed his arm, her eyes concerned.

Nick looked down at her with an unreadable expression before forcing a smile, “Just got a little spooked, I thought we were going to get trampled.”

He pulled Suzy to his paws and held her to his chest; Judy saw that his paws were shaking.

 “Well, I’ll take Suzy home so you two can get back to work,” Amelia spoke up, extending her arms to receive the baby. But Nick held the sugar glider close to his chest, unwilling to let her go.

 Amelia frowned and glanced at Judy, her green eyes concerned. Judy was watching Nick with a small frown; finally she spoke, “Nick. How about you head home early, let your mom take a break.” He looked at the rabbit, “Are you sure?”

“Of course,” Judy replied, “I’m just going to look through files, and I can do that on my own. Go home and relax.”

 He nodded gratefully, his fur no longer standing on end. Judy smiled mischievously, “But just so you know, if I’m going to be out working then _you_ have to cook me a big, lavish dinner for when I get home.”

 Nick smiled softly, eyes shining with fondness, “As long as you don’t mind if it’s crispy, your wish is my command.”

 

 

 

           


	18. Time and Place

Despite Nick’s words his mother ended up cooking, having panicked when see saw the smoke rising from the kitchen. Leaving Nick sitting out on the balcony with Suzy standing on his lap and gazing out at the spectacular view said balcony offered them. Nick kept one paw around the baby’s waist in case she got the sudden urge to jump off the terrace and glide.

Nick leaned his head on the back of his chair, his eyes staring at the darkening sky as he waited for Judy to get back. Fear was starting to get the best of him.

 Moriarty knew her…he and the rest of the pack was back.

When he had seen Ray Silver at Preyda, the silver fox had acted like they had never met. He had tried to forget the whole thing, thinking that if it was Ray he had straightened out like Nick did. And then he was told a female hyena was part of Eleanor’s kidnapping. He bet his life it was Edith, he shuddered at the memory of the hyena’s crazy brown eyes and twisted grin.

 And then Moriarty Mane came by to say hi. Nick’s past was officially catching up to him and he knew all he could do was wait for it to be out in the open. And then see if what Judy would do.

            Nick’s gulp had Suzy turned to glance up at him, her big eyes looking worried despite her young age and Nick made himself smile but he knew it was weak. “I wish I was like you, rascal. You’re young, you’re life’s a clean slate. You can do so much great stuff…not make mistakes like me. Not make things get to you and make you do awful things…”

 Suzy crawled up his chest and nuzzled under his chin. It comforted him; Suzy wouldn’t judge him, even if he deserved it.

 With a devious grin Nick picked up the sugar glider and started to mercilessly tickler her belly, making her squeal and giggle. She managed to squirm out of his grip and jump onto his face, making Nick laugh.

 “Dada!”

Nick’s snicker stopped, his eyes widening, sure he heard the baby wrong.

 “No, no,” he replied quickly, standing up and pulling Suzy off his face. “I’m a fox and you’re a sugar glider. I can’t be your dad.”

“Dada,” she repeated again, smiling up at Nick.

He tried to swallow past the lump in his throat, smiling softly as his vision slightly blurred. “Well…I guess I am the best you got at the moment, huh.”             Hearing the door open Nick placed Suzy on his shoulder and walked back into the living room, greeted by the sight of Judy who grinned at him in return.

“Feeling better?” she asked, immediately hurrying over to his side.

“A bit,” he told her. “Did you…did you find anything in the files?”

She shook her head, “Don’t worry about that right now. I can catch you up tomorrow.” Her nose twitched and she turned her head to the kitchen, “Something smells great.”

 She walked into the kitchen to find Amelia finishing up a bowl of vegetable soup; she smiled when she spotted Judy. “Dinner’s almost ready.”

“You at least tried to cook didn’t you?” Judy asked Nick.

 “Oh yes he did,” Amelia replied with a hearty laugh. “The ceiling has smoke stains to prove it.”

 Nick rolled his eyes, “I can cook…as long as I don’t need the stove to do so.”

Judy and Amelia exchanged amused glances as Nick pulled out a trio of bowls and spoons, placing them on the table. Suzy jumped onto the table and rushed to the bottle Amelia had already made and placed on the table.

 “I figure Nick and I could try a prey-based meal once in a while,” Amelia said, taking the pot off the stove.

            A few minutes later the three had set down and Judy was offering to order take out for the two foxes who were struggling to eat the soup that the rabbit found delicious.

“I uh…” Amelia forced herself to swallow a spoonful. “I used to work at a soup kitchen, helped cook it and everything and the prey had always told me it tasted good but…”

 “We are definitely not prey,” Nick replied, pushing the bowl away. Suzy eyed it like she was ready to dive in for a swim; Judy quickly picked her up and held her to her chest.

 “Seriously you two, let’s just order take out. I don’t need two starving foxes on my conscious.”

 They relented, Nick calling it in while Judy and Amelia retired to the living room, the vixen sitting on the couch while Judy sat on the floor with Suzy, the sugar glider shaking her rattle like mad.  “She does love that thing, doesn’t she?” Amelia asked, watching the two with a fond smile.

 “Apparently,” Judy chuckled. She let Suzy crawl up to her head were she played with the rabbit’s ears, making Judy laugh harder.

 Amelia watched them for a silent moment before speaking again, “Judy, do you plan on having children?”

 “I do,” Judy replied, smiling up at the fox. “While I may have been an oddball about my career choice I definitely wanted to add new members to the Hopps clan.”

Amelia glanced toward the kitchen where her son was out of ear shot, “Do you plan to start that family with Nick?”

 Judy’s eyes bulged at the question, the skin under her fur turning hot and her heart skipping a beat as she glanced toward the kitchen. She loved Nick, she truly did. But she didn’t know if the fox would want to start a family with her, didn’t know if that would work considering they were different species and both had the same dangerous job…a thousand doubts raced through her head as she turned to give Amelia her answer.

            “The pizza should be here in twenty or it’s free,” Nick spoke as he walked into the living room. Judy’s jaw slammed shut.

Nick took in her flustered expression and his mother’s amused looks. “Mom, what’ve you been doing?”

 She smiled at her son, “I was just about to tell Judy about how your father and I first met.”

 Nick’s eyes widened and a grin curled his lips, “Really?”

“Oh, that’s right. You adore this story.” Amelia glanced at Judy, “My son was a serious hopeless romantic when he was young.”

 “I’d love to hear it,” Judy said, trying to push the vixen’s earlier question out of her head.

            Amelia straightened up on the couch, Nick sitting on the floor next to Judy and Suzy. “Well, I was a secretary at the time and had dated a co-worker for a few years before having a really bitter break up after he found out I wanted to be more than a secretary. After that he constantly told everyone at work that _he_ broke up with _me_ and I had been a complete mess over it and everyone believed him. Months later it was time for an office party and I was not looking forward to it, knowing he loved to talk about our breakup in front of a crowd. But I was determined to go in with my head held high. So I hailed a taxi and climbed in ready to face the storm.”

 “And then one Max Wilde climbed in at the exact same time,” Nick broke in, his green eyes shining and he looked like a little kit.

Amelia chuckled, “Yes he did. I ended up staring at him for a good full second there, thinking him the most handsome fox I’ve ever seen. Then he smiled at me, apologized for grabbing the same cab in a not apologetic tone, and asked to split the cab fare. He was on his way to a family get together at a restaurant that happened to be right across from my work. By then I had gotten over his good looks and only shrugged, returning to my original bad mood. I had figured we’d ride in silence but the next thing I knew he was introducing himself and telling me his entire life story, even worming my name out of him. But finally we reached my job and I got out without saying goodbye, ready to face my ex. Sure enough as soon as I walked in he started off about how he was ‘worried’ I wouldn’t come and made kept making remarks about how lonely I was now that he left me. And then guess what happened?”

 Nick jumped to his feet, startling Judy. “My dad ran in, cried out _AMELIA_ , and picked her up like this!” He pulled Judy into his arms bridal-style. Judy laughed out loud while Suzy stared up at them with a big grin.

Amelia smiled, “I was so surprised I nearly punched him in the nose. But then he grinned at my ex and said, in a voice for the entire party to hear, that I was the prettiest vixen he had ever met and how lucky he was to have me and he pitied the idiot who’d ever leave me.” Amelia’s eyes shone with mirth, “And then he kissed me right there in front of everyone, and I do believe it was the best kiss I’ve ever had.”

“Aww,” Judy cooed, snuggling against Nick’s neck, the fox still held her, not taking notice of how his attention had fully focused on the rabbit.

“He then carried me out and invited me to have lunch with his family, who absolutely adored me. We exchanged numbers after that and long story short-Nick was born a year later.”

 “Mr. Wilde sounds amazing,” Judy smiled, feeling a tinge of guilt for this fox she had never got to meet.

Amelia’s eyes were bitter sweet as she nodded, “Yes, he was.”

Feeling the melancholy vibe of the two foxes Judy slipped out of Nick’s arms and smiled up at him. “Wanna hear how _my_ parents met?”

He smiled gratefully at her, “Loved to.”

“Absolutely,” Amelia added.

            “Well, my mom, Bonnie, she was the prettiest bunny of the tri-burrows and had nearly every young eligible buck pining after her. But she wasn’t easy to impress, especially back then. But my dad, he was determined. So one day while my mom was at her family’s vegetable stand he popped up out of nowhere and flopped across the table all dramatic-like. He told her if he didn’t have a carrot soon he’d _perish_.” Judy fell against Nick’s side, throwing her arm over her eyes, making the two foxes laugh.

 “My mom just laughed and sold him some carrots, but my dad kept coming back every day to buy more. He eventually ran out of money and asked if he could trade for some of those delicious carrots. My mom asked him what he could possibly trade that was worthy of her family’s first prize winning carrots.”

 “And what did he say?” Amelia asked.

Judy grabbed both of Nick’s pairs in her own and looked up at the fox with giant eyes, slightly flustering him. Judy spoke, her tone serious and emotional. “If you give me just one of your prize-winning carrots then I will give you my entire heart. It may not be as grand as your carrots but it’s willing, and it’s forever.”

 Nick pulled a paw away to cover his mouth as he snickered, “Your dad is officially the corniest mammal in the world.”

Judy grinned and released his remaining paw, “Yeah, he is. But _oh_ , did it work on my mom. That trade got Dad the prettiest bunny in all of Bunnyburrow.”

 “Until you were born that is,” Nick replied with a wink.

She rolled her eyes fondly, “Flattery will get you nowhere.”

            Amelia watched the two with a soft smile; she had already heard the very entertaining story of how these two first met. Now she wanted to hear the very entertaining story of how they would propose.

 


	19. The Pack

            Nick sat on the step of a laundry mat, managing to hear the thrum of washers and dryers inside the building. His junior ranger uniform felt hot on his fur, like an unwanted second skin.

On his knees sat his junior ranger guide, showing him everything to identifying tracks to tying the perfect knot. Everything he should’ve been learning with his other fellow rangers…but that wasn’t going to happen. Not after the intention…not after the muzzle.

He shuddered at the memory, forcing back the tears that always accompanied it. That had been three weeks ago, three weeks since he had started lying to his parents, telling them it was going great, that he was making new friends and learning so much. Every week he would put on that uniform that he sometimes felt like setting on fire, forced a big smile, and ran out to hide somewhere in town for an hour or two before returning home, gushing about the information he had learned.

He was never going to tell his mother what had happened that night.

He was never going to tell _anyone_.

He was going to be a fox and lie, because that was what foxes were. They were filthy liars.

            “Excuse me, son.”

Nick glanced behind his shoulder to see an armadillo at the laundry mat door, unable to get on the street for Nick blocking his way. “You can’t sit there.”

“Sorry,” he mumbled quietly, closing his book and standing up, walking away to stand next to an elephant sized trash can. He glanced around to see if there was another place to sit to wait the hour out.

There was a sudden crashing noise that made him jump and look to his right just in time to see a silver fox kit appear around the corner, holding a pack of sweets between his paws as he scurried down the street, heading right toward Nick. The red fox heard yelling and knew it was the angry store owner coming for the kit, before Nick even knew what he was doing he grabbed the other kit’s paw as he passed by earning a startled look, and then Nick was dragging him behind the trashcan.

 With their fur on end the two kits remained quiet as they heard the store owner’s yells got louder and louder before gradually fading away as he passed them on the street and kept going.

 The silver fox let out a loud breath that seemed to deflate his entire body, and then he grinned at Nick. “Thanks bud. I owe you one.”

Nick found himself smiling back instantly, so glad to hear the word ‘bud’. “No problem, I’m Nick.”

 “Ray Silver’s the name, sneaking is my game,” the kit answered with a happy wave of his tail.

Nick glanced at the box of candy in his paws, “You stole that?”

Ray let out an annoyed huff, “I didn’t have any choice. That jerk of a store owner wouldn’t sell anything to foxes.”

 Nick flinched at the words, making Ray peer at him. “I know what that feels like,” he admitted.

 Ray looked Nick up and down, “So, are you one of those junior rangers I’ve seen running around?”

 Nick thought about lying, yes, he was a junior ranger, and needed to get back to his group…to his friends. But instead he was honest, and gave a sad shake of his head and spoke the bitter truth. “They didn’t want me.”

Ray was unsurprised by this, “Well, prey can be pretty uppity when they wanna be. But hey, you got nothing to do? Come hang out with me and my friends, Moriarty will love you. So will Ed, but she loves everybody so it doesn’t really count.”

 Ray grabbed Nick’s paw and led him down the street, passing through narrow allies and across road until they came upon a small patch of grass, a tightly packed group of trees decorating it. Ray didn’t stop and led Nick farther into the miniature forest until they came upon an oak right smack dab in the middle, and on that oak was a tree house.

            “This is our secret lair,” Ray said, stopping to look Nick in the eye, his own gaze serious. “You can’t tell a soul about it. You swear?”

He nodded, “I swear.”

 He followed the silver fox up the rope ladder and inside the makeshift house, once inside Nick noticed the piles of blankets and pillows strewn across the floor, along with books, action figures, empty food wrappers and cans, he even spotted a necklace. The walls were covered with posters of all kinds of things, to concert, to movies, to plays. Some were torn with claw marks.

 And then Nick saw the other two mammals inside. A spotted hyena, playing a DS, her lips pulled back into an impossibly large grin showing off her teeth. And then a maned wolf older than the other three, leaning back against the wall with an unlit cigarette between his teeth. He opened one eye that was a green so dark it was almost black.

 “Looks like Ray got more than candy on his trip.”

 Nick shriveled under the wolf’s gaze; it wasn’t hostile or annoyed, merely curious. And confident, a confidence Nick knew he would never have.

 “This is Nick,” Ray introduced, making himself comfortable on one of the pallets before opening the box of sweets, “He helped me hide from the store owner.”

 Ed closed her game and sat up, looking Nick over as she took in his uniform, “I thought junior rangers were for anti-stealing.”

 “He said he’s not a junior ranger,” Ray answered for the red fox. He tossed a couple of pieces of candy to Ed and Moriarty who both caught it with ease.

But the maned wolf kept his attention on the visitor, “Yet you have the uniform…”  “I-I tried to be a junior ranger,” Nick explained, sitting down on the hard wood floor. “But it didn’t work out.”

 “Care to give us some details?” Moriarty asked.

Nick swallowed painfully as the memories resurfaced; then again, they were never far from his mind, or his nightmares. “I was…I was the only predator there and they-they _muzzled_ me.” He was surprised by how easy the words came out, but he suspected he needed to tell someone, anyone, that wasn’t his parents or an adult that would just brush it off as kids being kids.

 Ed and Ray shared a shocked look but Moriarty didn’t seem surprised in the least, though his already dark eyes seemed to turn darker.

 “Come here, Red,” he said all of a sudden.

Realizing he meant Nick the fox walked over, stepping over the books and trash, to stand before the maned wolf. Moriarty patted the space beside him and Nick sat next to him.

 “When I was five a group of older prey, I think they were middle-school kids, attacked me and collared me to a pole just outside of school. It was dark; the only adult who saw me was the janitor when he was locking up. You know what he did when saw that little pup tied to a pole?”

 Nick shook his head.

“He left me there. He was a prey, a sheep. And he left me there just because I was a predator.”

 Nick’s eyes widened in horror, “That’s awful.”  “Yes it is,” the wolf agreed, “But I’m telling you that to show you, you aren’t alone. And so that you know one thing about prey: they’re _pathetic_. And they fear us, no matter how we act or what we do, they hate us.”

 Nick’s ears drooped at the words that sounded too true. He swallowed again.

 “They told you they couldn’t trust you, didn’t they?” Ray spoke up, “Because you’re a fox.”

 “Yeah,” Nick replied, he would never forget those words.

“Been there done that,” the silver fox snorted.

 Ed spoke, “My classmates keep calling me insane because I laugh all the time.”

 “I’m sorry,” Nick told her, his voice quiet.

 “Well, I do laugh a lot,” she replied, and then to emphasis her point she threw her head back and chortled, the sound rough and loud.

            Moriarty placed a paw on Nick’s shoulder, gaining the red fox’s attention once again. “The world will only see us in one way, Red.” He grinned; it was mischievous and almost mad. “Why don’t you help us give them what they’re asking for?”

 

.

 

            Nick finally had a pack, a pack that respected him, treated him so good, talked to him and listened to him, making him want to get up in the morning.

Ray was clever, slick even, always stealing snacks and accessories, pulling off their many heists with natural ease and teaching Nick how to be just as clever as himself if not more so.

Edith Giggle (Ed for short) was hilarious. Always ready with a joke, and always willing to laugh at Nick’s puns even if the others just groaned. And she was an expert at lightening the mood, whenever Nick couldn’t help but feel gloomy she always did whatever it took to make him laugh.

 Then there was Moriarty, the big brother of the group, strong and smart and always ready to lend a paw to his friends. He was the main reason Nick got out of his depression, constantly telling Nick that he was more than those prey could ever dream of being, always affectionately calling him Red, and making sure he was just as good a con-artist as himself and the others. Nick was happy, he was loved.

 He should’ve known it would only last so long.

            That length being six years, he was fifteen when he fully realized what he had become. The four changed their hide out from the tree house to an old abandoned house that only had one bedroom. Nick was constantly away from home these days, easily weaving lies to his parents these days, before going off and nabbing whatever items catch his fancy from stores and stands. Ready to make up new cons with his friends to get bigger and better things, and once in a while getting revenge on mammals that crossed him such as store owners and some of the high-class citizens, the store owners would get smashed windows and the high-class would find their wallets missing.

            Then one night, just like any other, the four were strolling aimlessly through town. Ed and Ray were arguing over the latest issue of a comic they were both fans of while Nick licked a pawpsicle, his eyes on Moriarty who walked ahead of him, waiting for the wolf to come up with something fun to do.

 Nick glanced around the street, it was getting dark and the streets were empty, the windows of the houses dark as if they were only mammals on earth. And then he heard the laughter. Very, very, familiar laughter.

 He stopped in his tracks, making Ray and Ed stumble to halt to keep from crashing into them, Moriarty stopped and looked at the three over his shoulder with a question in his eyes.

 Nick was staring across the street were a group of mammals walked out a diner, laughing uproariously. Even though they were older, even though they weren’t wearing their uniforms, he still recognized them.

 Fear clogged his throat and Nick couldn’t breath, he was suddenly a nine year old kit again, being laughed at and mocked with a muzzle heavy and cold on his face.

 “Nick?” Ray spoke, shaking his shoulder. “What’s up?”

 Moriarty already had his eyes on the prey across the street; he glanced back at Nick and stepped forward, blocking the view of them from Nick. He forced his eyes to look up at the maned wolf.

 “It’s them,” he breathed, his voice cracking. “It’s _them_.”

He didn’t have to explain who ‘them’ was, the three canines’ eyes narrowed in hostility. Ed and Ray glared at the prey, their teeth already bare.

 “Red,” Moriarty spoke quietly. Convenient because red was exactly what Nick was seeing right now.

 “Did you deserve what they did to you?”

Nick shook his head, no, he didn’t. He didn’t! He had just been a kid! He hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone! He just wanted to be a junior ranger scout but all he got was a _muzzle_ just because he was a _fox_!

 “No,” Nick growled in a voice so vicious he hardly recognized it as his own.

Moriarty broke into a grin and stepped back, the prey were still in their sights, going down the deserted street where they couldn’t be seen by any source of authority. “Exactly, but you know what they deserve? Exactly what they expect from us, and what do they expect from us?”

 His grin widened, revealing his white fangs, “To bite.”

 

.

 

            Everything had been a blur, Nick had only seen red, had only heard those awful words, as he and his friends attacked the former rangers, hitting, scratching, and biting. The prey obviously had underestimated them, not calling for help. They quickly regretted that but by then they were bleeding. And Nick didn’t think that recognized them, which only fueled his fury. But in the midst of the attack sirens could be heard in the distance and Moriarty had dragged Nick, kicking snarling, away, hiding in a narrow alley where they caught their breath while the police picked up the prey’s unconscious bloody bodies.

            “Think they’d be able to identify us to the cops?” Ray asked, wiping some blood off his lip, unsure if the blood was his own or not.

“Nah,” Ed said, “It was too dark.”

 Nick was on his paws and knees, still catching his breath as his mind caught up to what they had just done.

 The hyena suddenly broke into laughter, “Oh wow! That was awesome!”

Ray joined the laughter, “Wasn’t it though? The looks on their faces! We should do that more often.”

Moriarty smiled proudly at them, “You all did excellent. Especially you, Red.”

“Yeah, he nearly ripped their limbs off,” Ed chortled.

 But Nick had stopped listening to them, he was staring down at the dirty cement, mainly on his paws that were now sticky with drying blood. The words of his junior ranger scout oath playing over and over in his head: _I, Nicholas Wilde, promise to be brave, loyal, helpful, and trustworthy_.

 That Nicholas Wilde wouldn’t have just attacked those prey, no matter how awful they had been, he wouldn’t have scratched at their eyes and dug his teeth into their flesh until he tasted blood, blood that now stained his teeth. He had wanted to kill them. His anger, his sadness, it had turned him into the thing they had accused him of being, into something that _deserved_ to be muzzled.

 Nick felt sick.

 “Red?” Moriarty spoke, “What’s wrong?”

 “We shouldn’t have done that,” he rose onto shaky legs, “We shouldn’t have done that.”

 “What are you talking about?” Ray asked while the maned wolf’s eyes narrowed. “They deserved it.”

 “But that…that’s not who I am,” Nick insisted. “That’s not who _we_ are.”

 “Uh…that’s exactly who we are,” Ed told him. “We’re giving the prey what they assume, remember?”

 Nick’s throat grew tight, “But…but we nearly killed them.”

“We know,” Moriarty replied, his voice flat.

 “We can’t do that!” Nick snapped desperately, not liking the impassive looks on his friends’ faces. “That’s not the kind of mammal I am! I’m not what they called me!”

 Moriarty chuckled; it was low and dark and sent a shiver down Nick’s spine. “Says the fox whose been stealing and tricking mammals for years now, whose destroyed private property…who’s lied to his own parents.”

 Nick’s throat clenched up as Moriarty continued with a nasty grin, “Says the fox we had to pull back before he went for another mammal’s throat.”

            Nick took a step back, then another, looking at his friends in a new light, and wondering if they had always been like this. They were criminals, they were dangerous, and he had let them drag him down with them. Make him something he didn’t want to be. Now he was covered in blood with a boulder in his chest, he wanted to run home but couldn’t, he couldn’t let his parents see him like this, couldn’t let them know what he did. He couldn’t let _anyone_ know what he did. But he had to run either way, he had to get away from these predators that he suddenly realized were crazy.

 He turned and raced off, ignoring the yells of his formers friends as they tried to call him back. Nick ran and ran and ran, finally stopped when the temperature dropped and he realized he was in Tundra Town.

 He stopped as a stitch stabbed his side and looked around; spotting a large pile of snow he dove into it, relishing the cold against his hot skin as he used the snow to wipe off the blood on his paws and fur. He chewed some of the snow to try and get the blood off his teeth, feeling the salty tang Nick finally vomited, coughing and hacking as hot tears burned his eyes.

 He fell into the cold snow and decided he’d stay there, for the rest of his life he’d stay there. Because if he got back up he knew he’d go right back to making terrible situations, he was no longer the young junior ranger scout, he was a con-artist.

            “Grandmamma,” a voice spoke up, “Don’t go near him.” Nick kept his eyes closed, sure the voices were just in his head; it would go well with his misery.

But then he felt a small paw placed against his snout and his eyes popped open. Before him was an elderly arctic shrew, standing behind her was a polar bear who held a younger shrew resting on his paw. The elderly shrew was looking at him with warm eyes, a tenderness that had Nick’s eyes overflowing again.

 “Oh, honestly son,” the shrew sent a quick glare to the other shrew. “I raised you better than that, we don’t ignore a mammal in need, especially when he’s basically a kit.” She turned her kind eyes back to Nick and offered a sweet smile, “Don’t you worry, sweetie. Your grandmamma is here and she’s going to take care of you now.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	20. The Pack's Reunion

sweat and his eyes wide as he drew in several ragged breaths.

He hadn’t had that nightmare-more of a memory-in years. But then again, he hadn’t seen his former pack in years either.

He glanced down at Judy who was sleeping peacefully, curled into a ball with Suzy leaning against her head, their breaths small and serene. The sound of his phone buzzing had Nick turning to the bedside table and checking the screen, he had a text from an unknown number.

But the words told him who was on the other line: **Ray & Ed say they miss you**.

Nick shuddered, how did Moriarty get his number?

Another text: **We should hang out like we used to**.

Before Nick could finish reading the words there came another: **And get our paws red like we did in the good old days.**

Nick turned off the phone and nearly threw it back on the table. He buried his head in his paws, he needed fresh air.

Glancing down at Judy for a moment Nick slipped out of bed and pulled on some comfortable clothes that stuck to him. He walked out to the living room to see his mother on the couch, watching an old black and white comedy.

Amelia looked surprised to see him up, “Something wrong?”

“I just need to go for a walk,” Nick said, there was no need to tell her _why_. “I won’t be long.”

“By yourself?” she asked, her brow knit in confusion. “Should I come with you?”

Nick shook his head quickly, “No, it’s fine; just lock the door behind me please.” He was impressed how he hid his fear from his voice; he really was such a perfect liar.

            Minutes later he was walking down the dark streets, thoughts turning through his head and his guilt churning through his belly. What he needed was a time machine so he’d have never helped Ray, had never gotten involved with him.

 _But then you’d have never met Judy_ , a small voice whispered in his head, reminding him why the mistakes had been worth it. Ironically it was the mistakes that could also have him lose her as well. He didn’t know where his feet were taking him until they finally stopped and he realized this was the place he needed to be.

            Nick lifted his head to look at the tree house, the wood was rotting with age and it looked unstable, unsafe, but God, did it feel him with bittersweet nostalgia. Everything had gone downhill when the pack had become too big to have this place as theirs.

Footsteps had his ears twitching and Nick whirled around to see Moriarty standing there as if he had followed the fox, thought Nick knew that was false. Moriarty didn’t follow mammals, mammals followed Moriarty.

The wolf’s acid green eyes looked uncharacteristically tired as he gazed up at the tree house, and for a moment Nick wondered if Mane missed the _actual_ good old days too, when they were just a bunch of kids reading comic books and hiding from the rest of the world.

 “What are you doing here?” Nick demanded as the wolf stepped forward to stand by him, Nick’s body tensed.

Moriarty glanced at him from the corner of his eyes, “I could ask you the same thing. Weren’t you done with this life, Officer Wilde?”

 “I am,” Nick said resolutely. “I just wanted to visit. Remember how you three were before you all turned insane.”

A familiar, high-pitched, laugh filled the night air and Nick looked up at the tree again to see Ed and Ray smirking down at him from the house door. They had been waiting for him.

“You’re the one who wanted to hurt those scouts,” Ray pointed out, “We were just willing to help our buddy.”

“I am _not_ your buddy,” Nick growled before turning his eyes to Moriarty. “You just saw a sad kit to take advantage of.”

Moriarty ran his paw over his scarf and Nick realized all three of them were now wearing scarves even though they had never had such a habit as pups. “No,” Moriarty growled, “I took advantage of a coward.” Nick flinched and ground his teeth together, “I’m not scared of you anymore.” _And I’m not scared of what you have to say_. These three were crazy and they needed to be behind bars… But first they had questions to answer.

 “You owe me some honesty,” Nick told the maned wolf.

Moriarty’s eyes narrowed, glinting in amusement and suspicion, “Do I?”

“I was good to you when I was a kit,” he pointed out. “I always did what you said and got you a lot of money. You owe it to me to be honest.”

 Moriarty snorted, “I know you nothing, Red. But I suppose you are one of the few mammals in the world I was ever honest with. Keep talking.”

 “Did you kidnap Eleanor Sugar?” he asked immediately.

Moriarty glanced up at Ray and Ed, “We did.”

 Nick’s heart beat faster at the words, he was surprised it had been so easy. “Do you still have her?”

“No,” Moriarty’s paw once again rested on his scarf. “Our boss has her.”

The red fox’s brow knit, “Boss? Who is he? Where he have her?”

The maned wolf looked him up and down, “Are you interrogating me, Officer Wilde?”

Nick’s eyes narrowed, “I am.”

Ed laughed loudly while Ray spoke: “Next thing we know he’s going to try and arrest us.”

“I plan to,” Nick growled, he was aware that wasn’t the brightest thing to say given the circumstances but he was desperate to show the three he wasn’t scared of them. “Tell them whatever you want about me, I don’t care anymore. But I am curious about _this_!” He reached forward and tore the scarf away from Moriarty’s neck, revealing a thick black collar with a bulge on either side. Nick stilled in shock and before he could get a better look Moriarty struck him across his scarred cheek, forcing him to his knees.

“What did you _do_?” Nick growled through the pain, the collar having sent a spike of fear through his heart. Whoever managed to collar Moriarty Mane was not a mammal to be reckoned with.

            The wolf kicked Nick in his side before pining him to the ground, snarling in his ear. “If you say one more word I’ll hurt you worse than when I gave you those scars when you just _had_ to save that little brat!”

Nick’s eyes widened, he knew it. He had recognized those eyes.

“And it won’t be a physical wound that will heal,” Moriarty growled. “Tell the ZPD; tell _anyone_ , about us and I will take pleasure in tearing your little bunny to shreds.”

Nick’s heart stopped at those words and he stared up at Moriarty in open terror, the wolf grinned. “And if I can’t get to her the boss will, and I assure you he won’t be as nice as me. It isn’t a question if she’ll forgive your past mistakes, Red. It’s the question if you can live without her after she dies a very painful _slow_ death.”

The wolf released him and stood up, “You won’t be able to handle what’s about to come, Red.”


	21. Planting the Seed

Judy felt the sunlight warm her face, telling her it was morning. Judy kept her eyes closed and stretched her paw out, opening her eyes in surprise when she didn’t feel Nick beside her. Suzy was roused from her sleep as Judy moved and stretched while the rabbit checked the bathroom, it was empty.

 “Well he has to be in the apartment somewhere,” Judy insisted as she picked up the fox’s phone, “He never leaves this.”

 Grabbing the rattle she hid under the pillow Suzy then jumped onto Judy’s shoulder and the officer walked into the kitchen where Amelia was fixing a bottle for the sugar glider. She smiled softly at the rabbit but Judy was busy looking around the kitchen and living room, finally she turned her eyes to the vixen, “Where’s Nick?”

Amelia’s eyes widened, “He didn’t come back?”

Judy’s brow knit and her gut clenched in worry, “What do you mean?”

“He went for a walk last night,” Amelia explained, “I fell asleep but he said he wouldn’t be long…”

 “I swear if he’s not at the precinct…” Judy forced her voice to sound angry so she wouldn’t show how scared she had suddenly felt. Something really bad was going on. She placing Suzy in Amelia’s awaiting paws and the sugar glider offered Judy the rattle. Judy took it, distracted and hurried to get ready, and a few minutes later she rushed out of the apartment in her uniform, Nick’s phone and Suzy’s rattle in her pocket.

            When Judy walked into the ZPD precinct everyone within a hundred mile radius knew something was wrong.

Clawhauser and Aaron were sharing a pleasant chat when she was suddenly standing next to them and placing Nick’s phone on his desk, “I can’t find him,” her voice cracked with worry.

“What?” Clawhauser asked, his friend’s expression instantly had him on high alert. Aaron was distracted by his phone chiming in a text; the deer fished it out of his phone, studied the screen and quickly typed a reply, a smile on his lips. “My girlfriend,” he explained when the rabbit and cheetah looked at him. “We’re trying to do the long distance thing.”

“Nick apparently went out for a walk last night,” Judy explained to the two. “I’ve known him for two years and he’s _never_ taken strolls at one in the morning. And he left his _phone_! He never does that!” She stared at the black device forlornly.

Aaron studied it and realized it was turned off. “Maybe we can find some clues in it?”

“You mean snoop through it?” Judy looked doubtful; it was hardly something a good girlfriend did.

Clawhauser must’ve followed her train of thought because he patted her paw comfortingly. “This is an emergency, Nick would understand.”

 Judy sighed and nodded turning the piece of technology on. As she did so Aaron pulled out his phone to send another text to his girlfriend, and the minute Nick’s phone came on it buzzed with new messages. Several new messages actually.

Feeling like a crazy, jealous ex Judy looked through them, hoping one would tell her where her boyfriend was. She got more than she bargained for:

**And get our paws red like we did in the good old days.**

**Remember, Never Turn Your Back.**

**Our favorite hyena nearly drank some night howler serum.**

**What do you know about the Felino gang?**

**How do you keep sugar gliders come?**

**Answer me, Nick.**

And the newest text: **Meet at Cliffside Asylum at 4. Don’t be late Nick.**

Judy placed the phone back in her pocket, her stomach had tightened itself in knots as her thoughts whirled, trying to find a logical explanation because what this phone was telling her could not be true. It couldn’t be.

 “Judy?” Clawhauser spoke softly as if afraid to startle her, the cheetah and deer were watching her.

“I-I need to go,” she managed, already heading out of the precinct; “Tell Bogo Nick and I called in sick.”

            She was going to Cliffside Asylum.


	22. Blue Veins

            Judy hadn’t been to the Cliffside Asylum since the Night Howler case. Looking at it as she crossed the bridge it looked like no one else had either. The building was barren, the windows dark and the only sound the rushing waterfall beneath her feet.

 But she wouldn’t be so stupid as to use the front door; she hurried to the edge of the building where she and Nick had hid from the wolves the first time.

Nick…

 Those texts had to have been a set up, Nick wouldn’t have any part of this, she had no idea where he was but it wasn’t here…he couldn’t be.

            Judy looked up at the pipe they had used to climb inside all that time ago, she made her way toward it when the sound of the front doors being shoved open stopped her, her ears twitched as she glanced beyond the wall to see three mammals walking out. A maned wolf, a hyena, and a silver fox, Judy recognized the third as Ray Silver from Preyda. She didn’t know who the other two were but they sent a shiver down her spine. She stepped farther back as the wolf peered around, like he was looking for something.

 The hyena walked over and whispered something to him and the wolf snickered, Judy lifted her ears, trying to catch a snatch of the conversation.

 Suddenly a paw fell over her mouth and Judy nearly sent herself over the edge as she started to struggle only to hear a voice whisper in her ear, “Carrots, it’s me.”

Judy looked up at the fox, sinking against him relief, he was here; he was safe. But her euphoria was short lived…what was he doing here?

 Nick glanced toward the three canines warily, they hadn’t heard them, and nodded toward the pipe. He released her and crawled back inside, after a moment’s hesitation Judy followed after.

            Once they were inside the asylum Nick wasted no time in hurrying deeper inside the asylum, Judy followed after, not liking how the fox hadn’t even hesitated as he walked through the halls that were eerily quiet.

“Where were you?” Judy demanded as they walked.

Nick’s pace slowed and he looked at her over his shoulder, “I uh…I spotted that hyena, the one outside and thought maybe she was the one we were looking for and followed her here, I’ve been searching the place since. Do you realize how _huge_ this place is?”

 Judy stopped, staring at him with dismay, “You’re lying to me.”

Nick drew to a halt and fully turned to her, his brow furrowed, “No I’m not.”

“I know you, Nick,” Judy replied. “I know when you’re lying.” Nick looked away awkwardly, he looked at war with himself and it made Judy sick. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“It’s a long story,” Nick finally said. “I’ll tell you later. What are you even doing here?”  “I saw all those texts on your phone,” she replied, “They said to meet here. What’s here, Nick?”

 “Well, I think-” Nick began but then stopped as he caught Judy’s expression. “…Heh, what are you insinuating, Carrots?”

Judy’s eyes narrowed, “I’m insinuating that you haven’t been fully honest with me.”

Nick’s brow furrowed, “And you’ve been snooping through my phone, that’s a show of trust.”

 “I couldn’t find you!” Judy nearly screeched, “You were gone and didn’t tell anyone where you were! And now I find you in this asylum where a bunch of shady mammals are hiding out that have been texting very suggestive things to you, do you know what this would look like to other mammals, Nick?”

“What does it look like to _you_ ,” Nick demanded quietly, his eyes dark.

Judy took in a shuddering breath, “You know what it looks like to me? It looks like you’re keeping things from me. You’ve been acting strange for so long now; this case is more personal to you that I know. And you refuse to tell me, you don’t _trust_ me, after all we’ve been through there’s still things your hiding from me…” She looked away from Nick’s eyes and walked past him, going farther into the asylum, “And I think we should split up and look for clues, maybe by then you’ll decide if we’re really as close as I thought we were.”

 

.

 

Nick watched Judy walk off wanting to say something, wanting to say anything, wanting to say _everything_. But he said nothing. His mouth felt numb and he couldn’t get over Judy’s words, or the look in her eyes.

It was happening. He was losing her and she didn’t even know he had done yet.

Nick forced himself to take a step as Judy walked farther and farther, he needed to chase after her. He needed to tell her sorry. He needed to say he loved her.

            And then claws dug into his back.

Before Nick could open his mouth to cry out in pain when something clamped over his mouth, forcing his jaw shut, Nick realized it was a muzzle.

Nick tried to scream and struggle, to call out for Judy, as he was dragged down the hall and around a corner, away from his rabbit and out of sight. It was then Nick saw who his captors were, the Pack.

 Ed laughed quietly as she held his paws above his head, Ray sitting on his legs. “Really think we didn’t know you and your bunny were there, Red?” the silver fox asked gleefully.

 Nick continued to struggle, his face on fire because of the muzzle and his heart panicking with fear. He had been so stupid! Why hadn’t he gotten Judy to leave? Why had he let her leave his side?!  Moriarty appeared in the corner of his eye, smiling lazily at the red fox. “I warned you.”

He kneeled down before Nick and held his head down, forcing him to stop struggling, “Don’t worry, Nick. We know you hate the muzzle; we’ll take it off later. Right now it’s only a precaution.” Moriarty lifted his paw to reveal a needle, a syringe, filled with a familiar blue liquid. Nick couldn’t breathe.

“Can’t have you biting us now can we?” Moriarty asked gleefully. “See you on the other side.”

 Nick tried to pull out of their grip, tried to move away from the descending needle, tried to call out for Judy to run, to hide, to save him. But then it was too late.

 The needle plunged into his neck and he watched with rising horror as the serum drizzled out of the syringe and into his body, into his veins, his blood. And just like that-he was no longer Nicholas Piberius Wilde.

 

.

 

            “Nick?” Judy turned around, having sworn she heard something like a scuffle. The fox was no where to be seen and Judy’s heart pattered with rising fear. Something was very, very wrong.

 “Nick?” she called again, retracing her steps to find the fox, her anger fading into concern. “Ni-”

 Something sharp like a bee sting dug into her neck and Judy reached up to pluck out a tranquilizer dart.

“What…” she began but then she fell to her knees as drowsiness hit her like a wrecking ball. She tried to stay up but her body gave out and she fell to the floor. She desperately looked around for the culprit and just managed to catch the shape of an antler before her eyes drifted shut. And just before her consciousness slipped away a voice spoke with all the finality of death:

 “Oh, Judy, you should have never turned your back.”

 

 


	23. The Master Plan

            “…cer?”

            “Off…?”

            “Officer!” Judy forced her eye lids open, her body sluggish from the dart. It took a second for her sight to clear, she was on her back, looking up at a gray ceiling. She was still in the asylum. Hadn’t she heard a voice?

 “Officer,” the voice repeated and Judy turned her head and her eyes widened.

It was Eleanor Sugar, her clothes torn and looking like she hadn’t changed in days, her body thin underneath and her wide eyes terrified at she stared at Judy through the bars of a cage.

 “Are you alright?” the sugar glider asked softly, as if she was too scared to raise her voice.

 “She’s Judy Hopps, Eleanor,” another voice spoke up and Judy looked behind her to see Billy Beardby in a similar condition and trapped in a cage as well.

The rabbit forced herself up, managing to sit up and look at the two with concern, “Are _you_ two alright?”

“As well as we can be,” Billy replied bitterly.

Judy turned her attention to Eleanor, “Suzy is safe.”

 The sugar glider’s eyes widened, shimmering with hope, “Really?”

She nodded, “Yes, don’t worry. I’ll get you out both out of here I just…need…” Judy’s voice trailed off as she took in the rest of her surroundings. They were on a second floor, railing keeping someone from falling down to the bottom floor that must’ve been a cafeteria or activities center, the tables and chairs pushed to the corners of the wall to make one large empty space. She swallowed when she saw splatters that looked like dried blood. And all around the second floor were cages, full of felines that were lying in a subdued manner, collars wrapped around their necks. Judy swallowed, her throat dry, this was the missing Felino gang.

 Judy looked between Eleanor and Billy. “What…what’s going on?”

            “Let me tell you something,” a new voice spoke up. It made Eleanor flinch, Billy scowl, and Judy turn stock-still. “There’s a reason that masterminds and villains are surprised when they are discovered by the heroes. It’s because they lack respect, Bellwether didn’t respect you, Ironclaw didn’t respect you, but I do. I respect you greatly Judith Laverne Hopps… And I’m such a big fan!” Judy looked over her shoulder to see Officer Aaron Ronno walking out of the shadows, passing the cages in ease and stood before the rabbit, a small smile on his lips and he looked older, more mature than when he had first appeared at the ZPD precinct. He lifted a hoof and revealed the carrot pen Judy always kept on her person; her paw went to her pocket and felt the phone and rattle still there. “And I know everything about you, you little sneak.”

 Judy stared up at him, mute with disbelief, meanwhile Billy continued to glare at him and Eleanor had started to shake in fear.

            It had all been Ronno, the kidnappings, the tampering with security cameras, ever stealing the Night Howler antidote; he had used his training for his dark advantages. And no one, not even Judy, would have suspected him because they wouldn’t have looked past his badge.

“You’re incredibly smart, Judy,” Ronno went on in an almost melancholy tone. “Determined, brave, you are truly one of a kind. Same goes for that fox of yours.” He let out a sigh, “Which is why it’s going to be such a shame that I’ll have to kill you both, figuratively or literally…either way it’ll be a tragedy.”

 Judy’s heart sky-rocketed, “Nick…” She looked desperately around, trying to catch a glimpse of red fur.

 “Don’t worry,” Ronno made himself comfortable atop Eleanor’s cage. “He’ll be here shortly. Until then, want to ask any questions?” He dropped the carrot pen to the floor and smashed it under his foot, breaking the pen in half. “In confidence of course.”

 “What did you _do_?” Judy shrieked, “What’s going on!? How did you do this? _Why_ did you do this? You’re a cop you’re suppose to protect mammals not take them!”

 Ronno lifted his hooves and made a calming gesture and Judy fought the urge to strangle him. “Make yourself comfortable and open those ears: I say we can begin from when I was a fawn, mainly this one important thing I witnessed. My brother had a older friend who was a predator, a cougar, who one day got on the wrong side of a bear and they had fought. But not like some punches and kicks I mean an _actual_ fight, they tore at each other with their teeth and claws, blood was _everywhere_! And for the life of me I can’t recall why they were fighting…

 “My brother took me away before I could see the end of that fight, but I never lost my…admiration of that fight, I was almost envious of predators and there natural gifts to kill. The years went by as that thought would plague my mind on sleepless nights and dull classes. Eventually I grew up and became an Officer of Evergreen City, and lived as average a life as a cop could, and then I heard about the Night Howler case.” His eyes glittered with sincere admiration as he stared at the rabbit, “I heard everything about that case, you were an inspiration Judy, but it wasn’t just you I admired, it was the Night Howlers, I studied them and a plan starting to come into fruition. And then I went to a museum one random day and heard about the Tame collars. You know them, I suspect?”

 Judy nodded wearily, Tame collars hadn’t been used centuries, they had been hateful, prejudiced shock collars that predators had been forced to wear.

            Ronno moved off Eleanor’s cage and dropped to his knees in front of Judy, his face alit with unbridled excitement, “The Tame collars were awful but they can be used for good! They can control anyone whose been darted with a Night Howler, use the shock to subdue him. But then I went farther than that, more what ifs until finally-it came to me.” He stood up, “You see Judy I’m not a dirty cop or a wannabe evil genius, I’m an inventor, an entrepreneur. Ray, come here and be my example.”

 Out of the shadows came the silver fox and Judy, for a moment, wondered what else was hiding in the shadows of this forsaken asylum. And then she noticed the collar wrapped around the fox’s neck and Ray stood before Ronno in a subdued manner she hadn’t seen before.

 Ronno waved his paw in a showy manner at the collar; Judy noticed two square shaped bulges on it and a green light. “Look at this part,” he pointed to the right knob, “That is where the Night Howler serum gets injected into the predator veins, thanks to the lovely Eleanor we dabbled with it and decided less on mindless savagery and more on primal, feral instinct.” By the expression on the sugar glider’s face she had no say in the invention of this device. “And then this left lump over here that has the antidote, with a press of a button from my universal remote that I will show you later the antidote replaces the serum and our predator is back to normal. And if they try to do something immature like take the collar off they’ll get a quick little shock reminding them that’s a bad idea.”

He shooed Ray away who appeared all too eager to leave, Ronno sighed wistfully, “It was so lucky, finding him and his two friends’ half-starved out on the streets. I took them in, fed them, and while they were asleep put my prototypes on them and just like that _I’m_ the alpha of their little pack, whether they like it or not.”

 He turned back to Judy and looked affronted by her scowl, “I don’t hate predators if that’s what you’re thinking! I told you I admire them, especially the fact that a small, feral army of them could take down Zootopia. I know some other mammals who’d share my admiration, and would pay to see my collars at work, most of them mafia boss but I bet after the _show_ I plan on putting on some higher ups will probably want to cash in on the deal.” He knelt to be at Judy’s eye level, his eyes dark and light, hostile and lively, “I will go down in history for making the most effective weapon of all time, predators themselves.”

 Judy tried to edge away from the deer she ended up having her back pressed against the cold bars of Billy’s cage. “What did Beardby have to do with anything? Why take him? Why turn his brother savage?”

 “Beardby here helped perfect my collars,” Ronno answered, smirking at the goat. “It seemed fitting since his family were the original creators of the Tame collars. As for his brother that was a decoy, to throw the ZPD off. After all, who’d think a prey would turn another prey savage?”

            “You mentioned a show…” Judy began as the deer stood up straight.

“Oh, let’s just say I’m going to have quite an audience to show my collars. And since I have a pack of giant cats at my disposable it’s going to be so easy to throw one injected with a Night Howler but no collar in there, and then have my collared ones protect the innocent citizens of Zootopia.”

 “You’re _crazy_ ,” Judy breathed, her mind already running through the possibilities of escape, she took notice of a door down on the second floor.

“I knew you’d say that and it’s a real shame I can’t get you on my side with this, Judy,” Ronno replied, “A shame but not a surprise.”  “Then why did you tell me all of this?”

He gave her a pitying smile, “Because odds are you’re going to die here, very shortly, and in a very painful manner. But as I said I studied you Judy Hopps, if anyone can get out of this predicament it’s you. So listen very carefully to my next words, my pack will be watching out for the precinct, the hospital, and if you escape and try to tell anyone what is going on here…I will send my collared ones to Bunnyburrow and straight to the Hopps household.”

 Judy tried to swallow past the lump in her throat and Ronno’s smile only widened, “I know exactly where to hit you Judy Hopps.” The sound of snarling and struggles had him looking down at the bottom floor below, “Speaking off…it’s time.”

Judy looked over the railing, her fear rising, “For what?”

“I told you Nick would be here shortly.”             The door opened and in came the maned wolf and hyena, between them a snarling, snapping, _savage_ Nick. He was thrown into the middle of the floor and it was then Judy saw the collar wrapped around his neck.


	24. Dirty Paws

“No,” Judy breathed out the word, her voice thick with terror and her eyes were already starting to blur. “No, no, no, no.”

Nick snarled threateningly at the wolf and hyena who also wore collars, they watched the hostile fox with bitter amusement in their eyes.

 “I figure I’d give you an example of the collars before you well…you know…” Ronno pulled out a remote-like device. Judy forced her eyes away from Nick and to the deer, “What are you going to do?”

 “I’m going to watch two glorious predators rip each other to glorious shreds.”

 “No!” Judy cried out but then a button was pressed and the hyena dropped to her paws, her eyes wild as she faced Nick. The maned wolf climbed up onto a table in a corner and made himself comfortable.

            Then the hyena lunged and Nick met her half way, their bodies crashed together with a sickening thud and then they were rolling across the tile floor, biting at each other’s flesh, tearing through their skin. Judy felt sick, she moved as if to jump off the railing by Ronno grabbed her arm in a vice-like grip. “I wouldn’t do that.”

 “Stop it _please_!” Judy begged him, watching as Nick’s wounds started to bleed but his eyes stayed crazy and wild.

“You’ve had your fun sicko!” Billy growled through the bars.

 “You’re going to get him killed!” Eleanor cried out from her cage.

 Ronno chuckled at their desperate expressions, the sound chilling as it mixed in with the howls and cries of the predators down below. “That’s what I’m trying to do.”

 He smirked down at Judy but his eyes were glaring, “You really think that fox would just let me go if I killed you and not him, I admire Nick just as I do you and I know he doesn’t go down without a fight. The way to get to you both is through each other, and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

            Nick suddenly let out a howl of pain as the hyena bit into his hind leg and he raked his claws across her back but the hyena kept her teeth dug into his flesh. Judy struggled desperately, every instinct inside her screaming at her to get to Nick, rescue him, drag him far away from these psychotic mammals who wanted to hurt him.

“Why do you want to save him?” Ronno asked her out of the blue. “He _lied_ to you.”

 Judy whirled around and nipped the deer’s arm, making him release her with a hiss of pain and then Judy was jumped across the railing and landing painfully on the floor below. Shockwaves went up her legs as the maned wolf moved to grab her but halted when Ronno held up his hoof, he watched the rabbit with a dark gleam in his eyes.

 “HOPPS DON’T!” Eleanor and Billy begged of her but she was deaf to their pleas. She hurried over to the fighting predators before she could think of a plan.

 “Get off him!” she yelled, grabbing the hyena’s shoulders and trying to drag her off, but the predator had her full attention on Nick. But the fox’s feral eyes found Judy and his paw lashed out, pushing her away from him and the hyena, causing her to fall down…and then she felt the pain. It shot up her nerve ending and her paw immediately clutched her side, only to feel something hot and wet stick to her fur. Judy looked down to see three claw marks torn across her skin, blooding oozing out of the cuts and she suddenly felt light-headed.

 She would’ve fainted if not for Ronno’s sudden loud, triumphant laughter. “That was better than I expected! Wait, no, I can make it better!” He clicked another button his remote and with violent spasms the hyena pulled away from Nick, standing up and limping over to the maned wolf who wore a gleeful look.

 Judy’s attention snapped back to Nick as she heard him let out a painful groan and pull himself up to his knees, his uniform torn and his fur clumped as he caught his breath. Eventually his eyes turned to Judy and they were _his_ eyes, they weren’t wild or feral or anything else, it was the eyes of the fox that she loved and her heart squeezed.

 “Carrots?” his voice was confused and then his gaze traveled to her bleeding wound and the widened with fear and panic. “Judy! What happened?!”

He crawled toward her and reached his paw out to help her, the paw that was covered in her blood. Nick’s paw stopped mid-air and he stared at it with mounting horror, he looked from his paw to her wound and back again, realization making his fur stand on end and then he was letting out a broken gasp and crawling away from her, not stopping until his back slammed into the wall and he pressed against it as if he could melt into the steel. He stared at Judy, his chest heaving, as his eyes were full of terror and heartache and love. “Did I…what did…I…” He shook his head helplessly.

 “It’s not your fault,” Judy tried to assure, rising up on shaking legs, her paw still clasped over her wounds. “Nick please its okay-”

“No it’s not,” Ronno sang.

 The maned wolf chuckled and glared at Nick, “Just like old times, huh Red?”

Nick looked like he was going to be sick.

 “It’s not your fault!” Judy repeated forcefully, talking through the pain. “It’s that collar that’s on you.”

 Nick stared at the monstrosity around his neck as if he hadn’t even realized it was there and immediately tried to tear it off with his blood-stained paws.

“Don’t do that,” Ronno said as he clicked another button.

Nick screamed as a shock slammed through his body and he fell to the floor, shaking uncontrollably.

 “ _Nick_!” Judy tried to move toward him but then the maned wolf was blocking her from her fox, he was on all fours but his eyes were still intelligent as they glared at her.

“I’m personally getting tired of you, rabbit,” he growled.

 Judy stepped back only to slip on a puddle of her own blood and fall onto her back with a painful moan. The maned wolf stepped closer, his hot breath falling across her legs.

            “Die, Judy Hopps,” Ronno said almost too quietly for her to hear. “Make it easy on us and just die, I’ll make sure you live on as a legend.”

Judy took a deep breath, mustering up the last dregs of her strength and courage, and kicked the wolf right on the nose. He drew back with a cry of pain but by then Judy was already racing across the floor and to the left open door.

 

.

 

            “Catch her!”

Through the pain Nick heard Ronno give the order and Moriarty and Ed raced after Judy out of the still open door and farther into the asylum.

 “ _Leave her alone_!” Nick tried to stand up, to chase after them, but then another shockwave of pain rolled across his body and he fell back down.

“Judy…” he begged desperately, reaching his paw out as he saw her run, her shape getting smaller and smaller. “Judy…” His vision blurred before everything went dark.

 

.

 

            Judy ran through the halls of the asylum, pushing back the pain of her wounds as she tried to find a way out, all the while the wolf and hyena giving chase. She turned corners as much as she could, looking for a door or any place to hide. Fear kept her legs pumping and guilt kept her from being able to breathe correctly. She had left Nick…she had _left_ him. A part of her told her that had been the smart thing to do, she needed to get away, to think, to plan, but it did absolutely nothing to lessen her guilt.

            Running down a hall she noticed an open window, down below was the waterfall. Suddenly the hyena appeared in front of her, having cut her off. Judy skidded to a halt, turning to run back only to see the maned wolf there, saliva dripping from his fangs. She had no idea whether they were being infected by the Night Howler or not.

Judy looked around desperately, she had two options, try and fight these two predators off or… Judy whirled around and jumped onto the window sill, her courage faltering as she saw the waterfall below, there was no way she could survive that.

 Hot breath on her heels had Judy turned and slipping, she let out a cry of shock before she managed to grab the sill with her paws, hanging on by her fingers as blood ran down her leg.

 The wolf’s head popped out of the window and he grinned like a cat that had cornered a mouse. “I’m so excited to see the look on Wilde’s face when we bring back your torn open corpse.”

 Judy’s brow furrowed. No, that wasn’t going to happen, not now, not ever. If she was going to die…she wouldn’t let her enemies use her body to mock Nick. She glanced down at the raging waterfall below, thought of her family, her friends at the precinct, the kidnapped mammals, Suzy, Nick, and then without further ado she let go. Air rushed past her, stinging her wounds as the air blasted into her eardrums. And she could almost hear Ronno chuckle three words: _Bye, bye, bunny_.

And then she hit the water.

 


	25. R.I.P.

            _“A great tragedy has befallen Zootopia today as two renowned members of ZPD, Officer Judy Hopps and Officer Nick Wilde, are missing in action and presumed dead. The two had followed alleged clues to an old country road where they had come across a feral jaguar who is a member of the feline-based gang Felino. Reports from ZPD officer Aaron Ronno state the jaguar had viciously attacked Hopps and Wilde before leading them to a rushing river where they vanished. The jaguar had then turned on Ronno but the deer had managed to subdue the predator in time…”_             Moriarty watched the newscast on Nick’s phone with half-lidded eyes; Ronno’s play had gone perfectly. Covered himself and a sedated jaguar (who didn’t have a collar), torn at his uniform and taken Nick’s badge. He had dropped himself and the feline off miles away from Cliffside and had called in the ZPD. They had eaten up his story like a child with candy. As much as he hated the deer he knew how to wrap what seemed the entire world around his finger, after all he had gotten Moriarty and his pack. They had fallen on hard times, really hard times, when the deer had invited them for lunch, wanting to be a good Samaritan he had said. Moriarty had decided that after getting a free meal they’d steal his wallet, but then Ronno had drugged their drinks and when they had finally woken up they had shock collars on their necks. Just like that they were Ronno’s servants.

 Moriarty’s eyes trailed to the many cages of the room, some of the felines were still trying to escape but a majority were lying or sitting in a corner of their cages, they knew hopelessness when they saw it. Moriarty placed his phone back in his pocket and walked past the cages, spotting Eleanor who was curled in a ball, shivering, and Beardby who sent him a glare when he passed him.

Finally he reached the newest cage of the room he smirked down at the red fox that was sprawled on the floor. Nick Wilde hadn’t moved since Ray and Ed had dragged him to his cage, unconscious and twitching from the volts of electricity from his collar. Moriarty had asked Ronno if they could go ahead and kill him, the deer said no. He wanted to watch Wilde suffer a little longer before his major plan came into play, and then Wilde would join his little rabbit in the afterlife.

            “I know you’re awake, Red,” Moriarty growled. “Look at me.”

The fox didn’t move.

“Come now, you’re not dead yet. Speaking of, they just broadcasted you and the rabbit’s deaths on the news. Apparently it’s a tragedy.” Nick didn’t even twitch.

 Moriarty crouched down to get a better look at the fox, “We looked you know, for your rabbit. Didn’t find a trace of her, she probably drowned, she did fall off a waterfall…Or who knows? Maybe she’s lying on the bank of some river, dying from infection in that nasty wound you gave her. Did you enjoy spilling her blood, Red? Did it bring back fond-”

 Nick lunged at the bars, his claws swiping at Moriarty as he let out a feral snarl, his eyes glaring with unbridled hatred as he growled at the wolf, his fur sticky with dried blood. Moriarty laughed raucously, “Keep it up, Red. I wanna see you struggle when I finally get to tear out your throat.” He stood up and finally left the room, slamming the door shut behind him. Eleanor had watched the exchange and now stared at Nick as his body seemed to give in, sliding down against the bars.

 “Officer Wilde?” she called out to him. The fox glanced at her. “Do you…do you really think Officer Hopps is…” she couldn’t finish the question, the fox’s eye flashed with pain and he laid back down on the cold floor. He curled into himself and a moment later his body started to shake with silent sobs, and Eleanor could just make out his whispered words.

 “Judy…” he breathed, his voice thick with tears, “ _Judy_ …”

 

.

 

            “What are we doing here?” Finnick asked of Perry. The platypus sitting before a river bank of a small forest, looking at peace with the world, while Finnick and Fidget were _not_.

“We need to find our inner peace,” Perry told them, his eyes closed as he took a relaxing breath.

“No, we _need_ to find a new drummer for our freaking band!” Fidget snapped, flapping his wings in frustration. “Seriously, Gazelle’s concert’s tomorrow night! At this point we’ll have to settle for _any_ animal that can play drums!”

 “We have all day for that,” Perry informed him, “Let us calm ourselves first.”

 Finnick rolled his eyes but sat down next to the platypus, taking in a deep breath. Fidget meanwhile scurried to the river’s edge and walked into the shallows, trying to peer through the murky water.

 “What are you doing?” Finnick asked him.

“If you two are going to waste time sitting and breathing deeply then I’m gonna waste time looking for pretty rocks…maybe even a river crab or a- _AAAGGHHH_!!!”

A paw shot out of the water, grabbing the bat’s leg, after his screech Fidget flapped frantically, flying back to the shore and dragging the owner of the paw with him.

 “Hopps?” Finnick jumped to his feet as Judy released the bat and collapsed onto the bank. He hurried over to her side and sucked in a breath as he saw the claw marks across her torso.

 “Oh that is so not good,” Fidget said, peering over Finnick’s shoulder at the rabbit. Judy forced her eyes open and looked up at them, “Fin…Finnick…?”

 “We need to get you to a hospital,” Finnick grabbed her arms but the rabbit started to struggle.  “No, _no_ , I can’t…I can’t go to a hospital.” She looked up at him beseechingly. “Please don’t take me.”

 Finnick’s ears drooped; the rabbit looked absolutely terrified, “You need a doctor.”

 “I’m a doctor.”

 Finnick and Fidget looked at Perry in surprise, “You are?”

 “Well, I don’t have a license but I did finish medical school back in Outback Island before I moved here.”

 “You can help her?” Finnick clarified.

Perry studied Judy’s wounds, “If you can find me a house with a first aid kit.”

 Fidget flew up past the trees and Perry helped place Judy on Finnick’s back, fear was starting to tighten the fox’s throat. Why was Judy here, in a river, with a dangerous wound? Why wasn’t Nick with her?”

 “There’s a house not to far away,” Fidget flew back down, “We can try there.”  Finnick started to carry Judy back to their van, Perry keeping a close eye on her wound as Fidget flew above their heads, rambling nonsensically.

 “Judy…” Finnick breathed and the rabbit’s drooping ears twitched. “Where’s Nick?”

Judy shuddered and he knew it wasn’t from the cold river water that plastered her fur. She buried her face in Finnick’s neck and he could feel her hot tears.

 “I’m sorry, Finnick,” her voice cracked. “I’m so sorry.”

 

 

           


	26. Bellwether's Plight

            Three months. It had only taken three months. Despite all the anger, all the planning, having it all swiped away from her because of a carrot pen, it had only taken three months for the guilt to set in.

She had tried to deny it, told herself over and over she didn’t need to feel guilty because she hadn’t done anything wrong, not really. The predators would always oppress the prey despite the fact pretty outnumbered the sharp toothed beasts. She had been trying to change that, it’s not like she had become mad with power, of course not, only villains did that and she wasn’t a villain…she swore she wasn’t.

            She wasn’t sure when her shame had officially set in and started to grow, but she knew why. First there was the fact that many of the inmates, too many, didn’t hold anything against her. Not even the predators, especially the predators, they had either did just as bad, understood where she was coming from, or thought they deserved it. They’d invite her to eat lunch with her, watch TV, have a nice chat about nothing in particular. It had annoyed her at first, but gradually it just made her sick to her stomach.

But it didn’t stop there.

            She had visitors; she had many visitors over the course of three months, family members of those she had turned savage and others who just hated her. They screeched at her, spat at her, called her awful things, and she deserved every word. Not once had a member of her own family paid a visit.

But then one day, in the second month, she got a new visitor, one she wasn’t that surprised to see, Emmit Otterton.

She had sat down and waited for the screaming and the insults, but they had never come. Instead what came out was a soft-spoken apology, he was sorry her life had been so miserable she had resorted to using the Night Howlers. He had talked about how the relationships between prey and predators were mending, how he was spending more time with his family after he had been cured. And finally, before he left, he said something that nearly knocked her to her knees.

He said he forgave her.

            Those words would spiral through her head for days after that, she was unable to make herself deaf to it, she was no longer receiving screaming visitors, she wasn’t receiving visitors at all. So she could just think about that otter and how his life was going so well he did something she had never, in all her life, been able to do. She had never forgiven that jackal that tore her world apart, had never forgiven her mother for dying and leaving her alone, had never forgiven her father who she hadn’t seen in years, had never forgiven her best friend for abandoning her to have her own family, had never forgiven that one awful lion for…everything he had ever done to her.

But call the devil and he will come because not a week after the Otterton visit she was visitor by Leodore Lionheart, a face she didn’t know if she wanted to see or not. He had gotten out of jail early thanks to good behavior and somehow managed to get back into the good graces of Zootopia. Something she was sure he would want to brag about.

 But he didn’t, sitting across from her, a glass pane the only thing separating them, all he did was frown. It wasn’t a disapproving frown or even a sad frown; it was a frown of a mammal who wanted to say so much but had no way of saying it.

But as she looked at him all she could think of was years ago, when they were friends, when she looked at him and could smile, back when she just wanted to make the world a better place. But then those times, and those ideals, went crashing down, shattered and unfixable.

Lionheart had started to talk, but the words fell on ears that refused to listen. She could see the pity on his face and she couldn’t bear it, her heart was already constricted too tight. She think he might have apologized but she hadn’t said a word, unwilling and unable to talk through the lump in her throat.

            Then there was the cruelest joke of all, her therapist, the mammal who planned on coaxing the hatred out of her so she could return to society, was a bunny. A bunny that was already ready to give her a smile, to have small chats, talk to her about her past. Somehow she had managed to worm the truth out of her, made her spill her guts about what had happened to her mother…why she had hated predators…but she didn’t tell the bunny that that hatred had somehow, one would call it miraculously, started to spill out of her. It left her empty and guilty and one night after the guilt fully and completely smacked into her, she had done something she hadn’t done since the day her dreams had officially been crushed.

 She had cried.

 Her vision had been blurred, her face and wool becoming wet with tears, her cheeks flushing, awful racking sobs that didn’t even sound like her escaped her mouth. She had fallen off her cot and to the floor and had banged her fist repeatedly on the cold stone floor letting herself be as loud as she wanted because she didn’t have a cellmate.

 She cried over the failure of her plan.

Had cried over the fact that yes, she was the villain.

Had cried over how these inmates, these predators were still nice to her.

Had cried over how Emmit Otterton had forgiven her.

Had cried over how Lionheart had apologized to her.

 She had cried over every stupid awful thing that had happened to her and by the time she had used up all her tears she knew one thing. She was tired of being angry all the time, tired of hating something that would never go away. She missed one thing, she wanted one thing: she wanted to be that young bright eyed sheep again, who just wanted to make the world better…

 

.

 

            She had been in prison for a year when her therapist finally managed to put her on house arrest, she would be sent to a lone house out in the Meadowlands. But that didn’t come without a catch. She would be put under house arrest with tow other inmates, two predators that was to treat like guests. This was a practice to show she can safely socialize with predators and therefore, eventually, be free again.

 She had accepted these terms quietly, she was secretly desperate to leave her cell though, and all the tears she had shed and hopefully that empty feeling deep in her gut.

 The two predators had picked was a white furred polar bear by the name of Casper; she had gotten time for illegally selling alcoholic honey. The bear had no qualms with showing her fear when she realized she would be living under the room with the same mammal that had turned predators savage.

When she found out who the other predator was she almost laughed at how mercilessly ironic it was.

Wade “Frothy” Jones, a wolf she had met years ago and hadn’t help in the least with getting over her bigotry against predators. He had turned into a sarcastic, care free thing that had a tendency to bite whoever stepped close enough. He would be wearing a muzzle while they all lived together.

If the wolf recognized her he made no indication, she hadn’t made a very good impression on him either.

            The three were placed in the house, collars wrapped around their ankles that would tell the police if they tried to run off from the small piece of land they now called home. An officer or two would come to check on them at the morning and evening, to ensure they were alright and to temporarily free Wade of his muzzle so the wolf could eat his meals. Said meals were made by her, a part of her test, Casper and Wade were her guests and she had to make them feel welcome.

 Wade was enjoying the entire thing, always grinning at her and Casper and talking non stop. The bear herself was quieter but started to open up to them both and would have short chats.

She barely talked at all and the two didn’t try to force a relationship onto her. All she could do was try to ignore the void in her stomach, the void that hungered to do _something_. But what something she didn’t know.

            She had been so sure after everything that had happened from unexpected forgiveness to even more unexpected guilt, she was no longer be surprised by anything for the rest of her life.

She had been wrong.

 It had been a day like any other. Wade and Casper sitting in the living room and watching a special about Gazelle’s upcoming concert while she baked cupcakes dipped with honey. Baking had become something to distract herself from the nothing she had felt.

 Suddenly there had been a knock on the side door that had made her jump. The police officers only used the front door. Curious and more than a little skittish she had walked to the door only to have it burst open before she could reach it.

 She stared in shock as a large bat fluttered in; looking on the verge of a panic attack, following after him was a platypus of all things. And then a fennec fox appeared behind them, and draped across his back was a mammal she hadn’t thought she’d ever see again. Anger, surprise and regret broiled to the surface and she let out a faint, “Judy Hopps?”

 The three strangers turned their heads in unison and stared in alarm at the sheep before them. Of course they knew her, everyone did. But the fennec fox spoke her name anyway, a question, as if he couldn’t believe his own eyes.

 “Dawn Bellwether?”

 

 

 

           


	27. Rattling Hope

            Judy could remember blistering air, frigid water, blackness and pain, a lot of pain.

She smacked into the water, it felt like being slammed into a brick wall. It had made her black out but the frigid cold of the water instantly brought her back to conscious as she fell over the water fall.

When she had reached the bottom of the waterfall she forced herself to stay under water, she had to make Ronno and those canines think she had perished in the fall. She swam away, her arms flailing exhaustingly as she tried to see through the murky water, a fierce pain on her side as she bled into the water.

Finally she couldn’t hold her breath any longer, her lungs aching fire, and rose to the surface, taking a loud gasp as she broke through, desperately sucking in breaths. She had gotten farther into the lake than she thought she would have, she noticed a piece of driftwood and hurried over to it, crawling onto the debris and letting out a relieved breath, her limbs feeling like liquid as she tried to catch her breath, breathing through her pain.

 She looked up at the blurry gray shape of the asylum, she couldn’t think about what had happened in that terrible building, all she could do was try to block out the agony of her three claw marks that had at least stopped bleeding.

 At first she thought it was just her imagination but then she realized the building _was_ getting smaller, a current was dragging her and the driftwood across the lake, toward the branches of rivers that were connected to the large lake.

 Exhaustion weighed down her body and she tried to keep her consciousness from slipping but eventually she stopped fighting.

At this point losing her consciousness would be the best thing to happen to her, so she closed her eyes and let the darkness take her mind far away from it all.

 

.

 

            Judy was back in Bunnyburrow. The sounds of hyperactive children and snoring elders just a little too loud for her ears, she was standing out in one of her family’s carrot fields. Far off she could see the silhouettes of the Hopps family, her younger siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews were running around, playing. She could just make out the shape of her parents, their arms wrapped around each other as they watched their litters. A strong wave of homesickness washed over Judy and she took a step toward them, her pace increasing until she was running across the fields, the dirt dark and damp beneath her paws and Bunnyburrow turned into a blur.

When she finally stopped she gasped, her old home was gone along with her family, and instead she was standing in a large swath of trees unrecognizable to her. She turned a 360 arc, doing so she spotted a flash of brown and stared at it.

 “Suzy,” she breathed, recognizing the small sugar glider still shaking her rattler like mad. “What are you doing here?”

Suzy whirled around and disappeared into the forest’s foliage, Judy hurried to catch up with her. “Wait, don’t run off!”

 She chased after the baby, with her paws stretched out as the trees started to thin. Her paws grabbed at the baby’s soft brown fur, but the moment she touched it the fur morphed into coarse, bluish black hair.

 Judy jumped back in fright as suddenly she wasn’t looking at Suzy, but instead a face she hadn’t seen in over a year: Arachnid, the spider monkey hypnotist. Instinct had her glancing at the monkey’s tail but it was bare of any medallions.

 The monkey looked up at her with apathetic eyes before snorting and running ahead. He had led her out of the trees to a watering hole, where he crawled up a large rock to join a figure sitting there.

 Even with the mammal’s back to her Judy immediately knew who it was and her heart rate increased dramatically. She just managed to breath out the name: “Ironclaw?”

            The lioness was still dressed in the black outfit she had died in. She was watching the sunset, her posture calm and casual, her tail flicking lazily back and forth.

 The lioness spoke, her voice dry and throaty, “I don’t know if I should be laughing or offended. You managed to ‘solve’ my case with only a few scratches and it’s a _deer_ that makes you a sniffling helpless whelp.”

 Arachnid, who had been sitting by Ironclaw, scooted closer to her and the lioness ran her paw over the monkey’s head in an almost tender way.

 “He…he didn’t beat me,” Judy insisted.

Ironclaw let out a rasp chuckle, “Beating someone doesn’t always mean killing them, bunny. At least not in the literal sense, killing them is ruining, destroying, _taking_ the reason their heart beats, killing them from the inside. And he’s done that.”

 When Judy didn’t reply she elaborated: “He took your fox, Officer Hopps.”

 Judy flinched at the awful, _awful_ truth. “I will save him,” she replied, trying to sound more determined than she felt.

“The only way to save a savage animal is to put him down,” the lioness replied, still not looking at her.

 “ _He’s not savage_!”

“He attacked you,” Ironclaw’s voice remained even, “His claws were covered in your blood.”  As if on cue pain pulsed in Judy’s side and she looked down, letting out a horrified cry as she saw the blood running down her body like rivulets, pooling at her feet and rising up her legs. She fought back a wave of nausea.

“But then again,” Ironclaw still continued calm as day. “We’re animals; we’re all savage deep inside. We have to accept that, rabbit.” The lioness finally turned to look at Judy over her shoulder, her face was melted away revealing a skull; two red pinpricks glinted in the empty sockets of her eyes. “But we don’t have to fear it.”

            Ironclaw jumped off the rock, landing into the water and stalking toward Judy whose feet were stuck in the rising pool of blood. The lioness didn’t hesitate to move through the crimson liquid and the rabbit watched as it coursed up her fur, staining it russet, all the while the lion’s limbs were thinning, shrinking as she grew smaller and her muzzle lengthened before fur covered her face.

 And then Ironclaw was gone, in her place snarled Nick, his eyes blood shot as if he had been crying. Judy couldn’t breathe or budge.

 The fox lunged at her; Judy’s world went black as the teeth pressed down on her throat.

 

.

 

            She woke up with a loud gasp, jumping into a sitting position. Her entire body ached; especially her scratches and she realized she was in a soft bed, in a room she didn’t recognize.

 “Judy?”

 Finnick was sitting at the edge of the bed, looking relieved to see her up. “You’re awake.” 

 Finnick wasn’t alone; his two friends Perry and Agent shared a rocking chair in the corner of the room, the platypus holding a first aid kit in his lap.

 “Finnick…” her throat felt like sandpaper as she croaked out her words. “What happened?”

 “You got washed up in a river somehow,” he answered, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. “You were hurt too and didn’t want a hospital, so we brought you here and Perry sewed you up.”

 Judy pulled up her wrinkled, stained uniform to see the three claw marks had been sewn shut, the edges still a nasty red.

 “But you still need to go to the hospital,” the platypus spoke up, “I don’t have the proper medicines to keep that wound from getting infected.”

 Judy didn’t reply, instead looking around the room. It was quaint, awash with bright tan colors and handmade quilts along with a bookshelf. It reminded her of a room you’d find in Bunnyburrow.

 “Where’s here?” she asked the fennec fox.

Before he could answer the bedroom door opened and the mammal that walked in had Judy’s eyes bulging.

 “It’s my house,” Bellwether replied, her arms crossed as she leaned against the door frame. “Or to put it in better terms, it’s my new prison.” Judy noticed the plastic anklet around her ankle, recognizing it as the kind they made animals wear when they were under house arrest.

 “Bellwether…” Judy didn’t know what to say. What did you say when you ended up in the house of the mammal you put behind bars.

  “We were lucky that she and her housemates didn’t kick us out when we broke in,” Fidget spoke up while Finnick eyed the sheep warily (understandably of course).

 “How long was I asleep?” Judy asked Finnick.

 “Only a few hours,” the fox replied.

 “Speaking of hours that reminds me the cop that comes to check on us will be here soon,” Bellwether spoke up. “You can hitch a ride to the hospital with him and share the no doubt _very_ interesting tale of how you got those wounds. They’re going to be ecstatic to see you’re alive.”

 “No, don’t!” Judy’s voice raised an octave as she spoke. She forced herself out of the bed, nearly falling down as she did so. Finnick jumped off the mattress and stood beside her, ready to catch her if she fell.

 Judy sent a beseeching look to the sheep, “You can’t tell _anyone_ I’m here.”  Bellwether’s brow knit, her expression both confused and intrigued, “Why not?”

“Because if Ronno finds out I’m alive he’ll kill me,” Judy explained, “And my family.”

 Bellwether’s brow didn’t un-knit, “He’s that transfer cop they just brought in. I saw it on the news. What did he do?”

 Judy took in a shuddering breath and placed a paw on the bed to keep her balance. “He did what you did. Only different…he made this collar, full of the Night Howler serum and the antidote so he could make predators savage with a flip of a switch, and with that same switch bring them back to their senses with the antidote. He’s making an army of them.”

 Her words were greeted with a stunned silence. Fidget and Perry shared a look while Finnick kept his eyes on Judy. Bellwether’s eyes dropped to the ground. “That’s ingenious,” she breathed in a tone that was more terrified than impressed, Judy noted.

But then the rabbit remembered something the sheep had said, “What do you mean…the ZPD will be happy to see I’m alive?”

 “It’s all over the news,” Bellwether explained. “You and Nick have been reported dead, some savage jaguar tore at you two before you both fell into a river. Your bodies hadn’t been recovered obviously.”  Judy imagined her parents and Mrs. Wilde seeing the news cast and her throat tightened so painfully she had to blink away tears.

 “…That’s what happened to Nick,” Finnick finally spoke. “He was collared, wasn’t he?”

Judy couldn’t turn to look at the fennec fox’s expression. “Yes…” she clutched at her wounds. “That’s how…” she couldn’t finish the sentence.

 “He did that to you?” Finnick asked; his voice was a breath of dismayed terror.

Judy’s silence was answer enough.

            Finnick shook his head and collected himself. “Okay, you said we couldn’t go to the police. Alright, we can do it on our own.” He grabbed Judy’s arm and tried to lead her to the door, “Let’s go, Hopps. We need to rescue Nick.”

“And the other predators,” Perry pointed out, jumping off the chair.

“I wanna help to,” Fidget spoke up.

 Judy didn’t budge though, “I can’t.”

Finnick looked up at her, “What do you mean? Yes you can.”

Judy shook her head, pulling her arm out of Finnick’s paws. “No, I can’t…” her vision started to blur and it became harder to speak. “Ronno won.”             “Where’s the real Judy Hopps?” Bellwether suddenly spoke up. “The real one didn’t give up so easily. Not even when I had her surrounded she and that fox still managed to outsmart me all too easily.”

 “You beat Ironclaw,” Finnick pointed out. “And she was one of the most dangerous criminals known.”

 “But I wasn’t alone,” she snapped at them. “I had Nick!” She had always had Nick for every case she solved, and for every case he had helped her solve them, he was her irreplaceable partner. “…I need Nick…”  Finnick gave her a sympathetic look, “Hopps you…”

Judy took several steps back, shaking her head. A horrible empty pit had swallowed her insides and what little determination she had was used for standing up. Without Nick she couldn’t beat Ronno…she didn’t even know if the deer had kept him alive. The sudden thought brought Judy down to her knees.

 “Hopps,” Finnick began, stepping toward her.

“Go away,” Judy whispered to the four animals, her voice wavering as she tried to keep the tears at bay. “Please just go away.”

 After an agonizing second Finnick stepped away, walking past Bellwether and down the stairs, Fidget and Perry followed him. Bellwether gave Judy one more look before closing the door behind her.

            Finally alone Judy burst into tears.

“Nick,” she sobbed into her paws, “ _Nick_ …”

How did this happen? How had Ronno tricked them so easily? Why had she gone to that stupid asylum without backup? Why had she _accused_ him like that and complained he didn’t trust her? Her chest twisted painfully as she remembered the look on his face when he saw he had attacked her and Judy thought she was going to be sick. She moved her paw to touch her wounds when her fingers slid across her pocket and felt a shape inside. Confused she pulled out the two objects. Nick’s phone and Suzy’s rattle.

 The phone was waterlogged and Judy wasn’t surprised when she pressed the power button and nothing happened. She remembered how Nick had always had it on paw, during stake outs and random nights at home; he’d always used it to annoy her when Judy had been scolding him. Having it in her paw, ruined, was pouring salt into the wound.

She placed it on the floor and held up Suzy’s rattle, the sphere was crooked to one side, showing the stick was hollow. She hadn’t even managed to take care of one little rattle. But then Judy noticed a glint of black inside the hollow piece. Silently apologizing to Suzy she pulled the sphere completely off and slid the black piece out onto her palm.

            It was a jump drive.

 

.

 

            Perry scrolled through the computer’s screen, it was an old model that made a loud humming noise when they had turned it on and jabbed the jump drive into its slot.

Judy stood behind him, staring at the screen over her shoulder. They were in the living room, Fidget and Finnick (the latter refusing to acknowledge her when she had traveled downstairs.

Two convicts she recognized as Wade ‘Frothy’ Jones and the honey shiner Casper Barret were sitting sharing a small couch. The bear was trying to not get Judy’s attention, hunkering into herself while the wolf stared at her with open eyed curiosity. Bellwether leaned against a wall, staring at the floor with a thoughtful expression.

            “Do you know what this is?” Perry breathed in awe suddenly, staring unblinking at the screen.

“What?” Judy asked but she had a guess.

 “It’s the Night Howler antidote,” the platypus answered. “Why was it in a baby’s rattle?”  “That’s what I’d do,” Frothy spoke up, his voice muffled by the muzzle he didn’t seem to notice he was wearing. “Hide it somewhere no one would suspect, just in case.”  “Just in case one very smart deer managed to delete all the files so when he turned animals savage…he was the only one with the antidote,” Judy answered.

 “This needs to be taken to a hospital,” Perry turned to look at Judy.

“I know,” she replied, but all she could think was how that antidote couldn’t help Nick while he was stuck at the asylum. “But I can’t take it, one of you need to.”

 “And then what?” Finnick asked, “If we tell the ZPD they have a dirty cop they’ll put us behind bars. They won’t listen to us.”

 Judy frowned sadly at him, “Finnick, there’s nothing-”

 “The academy,” Bellwether suddenly broke in, looking at the rabbit.

 Judy furrowed her brow at the sheep, “Excuse me?”

 “Where was Wilde when you put yourself through the ZPD academy?” Bellwether asked, “I was there when you, a rabbit, graduated as valedictorian in a class full of wolves, tigers, rhinos, and elephants. Where was the fox to hold your paw then?”

            Judy knew what the sheep was saying and she opened her mouth to say that was different, but the words didn’t come because…was it really? Was it really that different? She remembered all the grueling training that had left her bone tired and unable to think straight. All the restless nights as she studied for tests, all the extra effort she had had to take to excel. Graduating from the ZPD academy had not been easy in the slightest, but she had done it, long before she had even met Nick…

            “Oh, look, look,” Fidget indicated to the TV that was playing the news, the volume muted. “They’re talking about Gazelle’s concert…that I’m starting to think we’re going to miss…turn it up, turn it up!”

 Someone unmated the TV and the newscaster’s voice filled the room: “In other news, celebrity sensation Gazelle will be performing her latest concert at the Animalia Center. Tickets having already been sold out it will surely be an incredibly crowded event, a majority of Zootopia’s citizens coming together to enjoy the music of one of our most famous icons.”

 Fidget started complaining that they hadn’t mentioned the Unusuals but Judy was staring at the screen in horror as realization clicked: _but I bet after the show I plan on putting on some higher ups will probably want to cash in on the deal._

 “That’s it…” she breathed, catching the attention of the rest of the animals in the room. “That’s what he plans to do! He’s going to release savage predators into the crowd and-and use the collared predators to fight them off, he’s going to give mammals a reason to buy those awful things…”

 “That’s crazy,” Fidget spoke up, “Wouldn’t that kill innocent animals?”

 “Yes,” Judy replied. “But Ronno doesn’t care, without Eleanor Sugar and the Night Howler antidote, it’s the only thing they have and he knows that.”

            Something boiled in the pit of her stomach, it was a something like fire and hotter and much, much, angrier. She had been stupid, she knew that, Ronno had fooled her, she had lost Nick…but she refused, _refused_ to sit on her tail and let the exact same thing happen to Zootopia. This is what she needed to do; this is what _Nick_ would want her to do.

 “Perry,” she looked to the platypus. “You’ll take the antidote to the hospital?”

He nodded and Judy turned to Finnick, “I need your van.”

 Finnick’s brow furrowed, “Why?”

 Judy glared outside the window, out at the Meadowlands, where not so far away Ronno planned to unleash an evil onto her home. “I’m going to stop this.”

 

 

           


	28. Primal Instinct

            “Okay, someone clarify for me,” Finnick spoke up from behind the wheel of his van. “How did I get a wounded cop, a honey shining polar bear, a wolf in a muzzle, and the former mayor in my van?”

 Judy sat in the passenger seat with Bellwether, Perry and Fidget sat in the back with Casper and Wade, the latter being muzzle free.

            When Judy had tried to leave the house Finnick had quickly blocked her way, telling her she wasn’t doing this without him. Nick was his friend, and that was _his_ van too. Fidget and Perry were quick to offer their help as well, Perry did still need to take the antidote to the city and Fidget didn’t want his friends to have all the fun.

 But the bat had turned to Frothy and Casper, “Wanna help?”

 “You have no idea how much I want to get out of this house to fight a crazy cop,” the wolf spoke up, but then lifted his leg to show off his anklet. “But tragically we’re stuck in this place.”  While Fidget pouted Finnick stepped closer to Judy to whisper in her ear, “Do we need their help?”

 “If they’re willing…We need all the help we can get,” Judy answered honestly.

 Finnick nodded with a resigned sigh and stuck a paw into his pocket to pull out an old paper clip. “Hold on,” he spoke up to the room and walked over to Wade. He stuck the clip into the keyhole of the anklet and only a few moments later the device dropped off the wolf’s ankle.

 Frothy stared down at the fox in shock as did the rest of the room. Finnick shrugged, looking bothered by the attention, “I’m a con-artist, I know tricks. Are you going to help us?” Finnick asked Casper.

 The bear didn’t look completely ecstatic at the thought but eventually shrug, “If just to prove that just because I’m a honey shiner doesn’t mean I’m a bad mammal.”

            While Finnick freed the bear Judy cautiously walked over to Bellwether who hadn’t moved from her spot. It was awkward to say the least, to be in this house with the sheep in the first place. But Judy knew Bellwether was smart, as evil as her Night Howler plan had been it had taken Judy until the last second to realize she had been behind it all.

She needed such smarts. “Will you help us?” she asked quietly.

Bellwether’s eyes narrowed, but her eyes didn’t show the hostility Judy had expected. They flashed with an emotion she couldn’t decipher. “Why should I? He’s doing the exact same thing I had planned to do.”  “You hadn’t planned on using predators as weapons,” Judy replied. “You wanted the city to fear them.”

 “Yes, so why would I help them now?”  “Because it’s been a year and I had hoped you were good enough to want to make amends.” Judy looked to Casper and Frothy who were celebrating over being free of their anklets. “You _are_ living with a wolf and a bear now.”

 Bellwether was silent for several seconds, and just when Judy was ready to turn around and tell the rest of the group it was time to go, she spoke: “I won’t help you for your or the city’s sake… It’s for my sake…”

            So minutes later they were all driving through the Meadowlands, Judy’s head running with different rescue plans as Casper spoke, “I’m not a polar bear, I’m a black bear that just happens to have white fur.”

Fidget stared up at her in shock, “How…unusual…Do you play drums?”

“Priorities, Fidget,” Perry reminded his friend.

 Frothy then poked his head between the seat to look between Judy and Finnick, “Hey, actually, about my muzzle…I’m sure I can be of much more use if I had it off.”

Judy looked up at him, “You have to wear it because you couldn’t stop biting animals.”

“It’s a medical condition,” the wolf insisted.

“Sit back down and we’ll think about it,” Finnick told him with his eyes on the road. “Hopps, what’s the plan?”

 “Perry needs to get to the hospital with the jump drive,” she said, “And the rest of us need to find a way to stop Ronno from releasing those predators at Gazelle’s concert.”

 Bellwether spoke, “How? Are we going to be waiting at the concert for all those mammals to see us? We might be too late,” she added, while it was a pessimistic thought it was a valid one.             “I don’t think they’ve made it to the concert,” Perry spoke up. “In fact I say we’re ahead of them.”

 Fidget glanced at his friend, “Are you a secret physic like you’re a secret doctor?”

 “No,” Perry said, “I’m just looking in the passenger’s side mirror and see that a bigger van is right behind us and being driven by a silver fox wearing a collar.”

 The others could hardly comprehend the words a delivery van appeared at their side, Judy’s eyes bulged when she saw Ray at the exact same moment the fox glanced to his left and saw her as well. His eyes widened then narrowed, glinting with maliciousness.

 “Brace yourself,” Judy warned everyone.

 With a screech Ray slammed into Finnick’s van, nearly making them skid off the road.

“Did he just…” Finnick spoke slowly; his wide eyes indicating that he couldn’t believe what just happened.

 “Hit the gas!” Fidget and Frothy spoke in unison, the bat’s voice being frantic and the wolf’s was excited, clearly he was having fun with such an experience.

 Ray slammed into the van again and Judy and Bellwether nearly fell out of the passenger seat. The sheep was scowling at the silver fox, her eyes calculating. “Anyone have any ideas on how to lose him?”

“Lose him?” Finnick asked, sounding breathless. Judy and Bellwether looked at him and nearly scooted away from the murderous look in his eyes as he stared at the road.

 “Oh, no,” Finnick seethed. “I might have hallucinated that first time, but that second time that fox _definitely_ just slammed that rusty piece of metal into my van. I bet he scratched it to, maybe even a dent. _No one_ touches my van!”

 “Judy,” he continued, lifting his paws off the steering wheel, “ _Take the wheel_.”

The bunny hurriedly obeyed, snatching the wheel between her paws as Finnick crawled across her and over Bellwether’s lap as he rolled down the window.

 “ _What are you doing_?!” the six mammals demanded.

“Kidnap my friend, whatever, he gets himself into stupid situation,” Finnick growled, “But if you mess with my van _oh_ , you better be ready to kill me before I get to your throat.” And then he jumped out the window.

 They all let out shocked screams but somehow Finnick landed inside Ray’s vehicle, landing on the fox’s lap before whirling around and going for his eyes.

Panicked, Ray hit the brakes and the van skidded to a halt, sliding across the road before slipping off it entirely and crashing into a lion-shaped rock.

 “Did that seriously just happen?” Casper asked as Judy stopped the van and jumped out, the group following her out and to the delivery van. Just as they reached it Ray opened the driver’s door and desperately climbed out, scratches and bite marks across his face and ears as he tried to make a run for it.

 Judy and Frothy jumped on him, pinning him to the ground as Finnick leapt out of the van, still looking furious. “I’m going to gut him like a _fish_!”

 Fidget and Perry quickly stepped in front of their friend. “Easy, easy, Finnick,” Perry ordered. “We need him for information.”

 Ray growled under Judy’s and Frothy’s paws, “Like I’ll tell you anything.”

Judy scowled at him, “Why would you be loyal to Ronno after what he’s done to you?”

She glared at the collar, the same kind that was choking Nick as they spoke.

“It’s not loyalty to that deer,” Ray replied, “It’s loyalty to Moriarty!” Bellwether looked from the fox to the delivery van, she walked toward the back of it and opened the door. She was greeted by ferocious snarls and she jumped back in surprise, a jaguar and a lion snarled at her from two separate cages. The sheep instantly recognized the feral look in their eyes caused only by Night Howlers.

            Judy left Ray pinned under Frothy and hurried over to the sheep’s side, she looked inside the van and cringed while the others stayed at a safe distance. “He was going to release these two at the concert,” Judy spoke then glared at the silver fox. “Weren’t you?”

 The fox remained silent and the wolf grinned. “Officer, I think this fox needs some gentle persuasion to get to talking.”

 Any other time Judy probably would’ve tried her own tatics, but with Nick and Eleanor stuck in cages, her family crying because they were told she was dead, and Ronno ready to kill innocents just to get his way, her patience was nonexistent.

 “Do it,” she said.

  Frothy pressed his foot into the fox’s windpipe, Ray’s eyes widened in fear. “Let’s play this game called the Pecking Order,” Frothy told him. “Who’s higher up your list: this Moriarty?” He pressed his foot down, “Or air?”

 Ray spluttered under him as Judy stepped forward and loomed over him, “Where’s Ronno?”

 “Still-still at the asylum,” Ray stammered, “All still at the asylum-haven’t picked the collared preds yet.”

 “And he won’t get a chance,” Judy replied, she looked up at Frothy. “Please throw him into the back of the van.”

While the wolf obliged (Ray kicking and screaming as he did so even though there were no other mammal for miles in the flat country side) Judy turned to Perry, “I need you to take this van and get the antidote and those predators to the hospital.”

 The platypus nodded and Fidget stepped closer to his friend, “I’ll go with him.”

 “And me,” Casper added, she had watched the entire scene in nervous silence, clutching her paws together. “Sorry but I don’t think I’d be much help in an asylum.”

 Judy nodded, “Okay.” She looked to Bellwether, “Then it’s us, Frothy and Finnick.” The latter was examining the damage done to his van, steam coming out of his oversized ears. If violence was necessary, and odds are it would be, Finnick would have no trouble jumping into the fray.

 

.

 

            They had parked at quite a distance from the Cliffside Asylum, Judy’s mind racing on how to sneak in but luckily she didn’t have to. Bellwether knew the asylum like the back of her hoof, she admitted it had been her who had had sneakily planted the idea to hide the savage predators here into Lionheart’s head.

She knew one side of the cliff that was climbable and it should keep them out of the sights of any mammal that looked through the asylum’s windows.

            Judy looked up at the cliff with dread, her wounds already pulsing in pain at the thought of such a climb. But then she remembered why she wad doing this and took in a breath before starting the climb. The others followed after her.

 The sharp stones dug into her paws and feet as she scaled the cliff side, her arms and side aching. If she survived this she was never going to be able to leave the hospital.

Her foot pressed down a piece of rock that slid free and Judy almost fell, with a gasp of fright she pressed her body against the cliff.

 “Hopps?” Finnick climbed up to her. “Are you okay?”

Judy nodded and forced herself to continue, her arms shaking in fear. Finnick frowned at her and stayed close as if he planned to catch her if she fell.

 Frothy (having been freed of his muzzle by Finnick) glanced down at Bellwether who was behind them all, “Need some help?”  She shook her head stubbornly. The wolf rolled his eyes.

            Judy finally reached the top and climbed up, now she was shaking with relief as Finnick and Frothy joined her. A moment later she forced herself to stand up, ignoring the ache in her limbs and looked up to see the back of the asylum. She noticed there was a back entrance and started forward toward it before she realized Bellwether wasn’t around.

 She turned around and with Frothy looked over the edge; the sheep was only halfway up.

“Go on without me,” Bellwether yelled up to them. “I’ll catch up.”

 “I’ll wait for her,” Frothy assured Judy. The rabbit didn’t know if he could be trusted to do so but they hardly had the time to spare. She nodded and followed Finnick to the entrance, the door was already unlocked and Finnick voiced his concern over that as they walked through the dimly lit hallways, ears pricked for any unfriendly sounds.

“This asylum hasn’t been used in ages,” Judy told him. “Odds are Ronno wouldn’t even know there was a back entrance.             They tried to run through the labyrinth of hallways but all Judy could manage was a fast walk, her breath coming in pants from the pain. Finnick kept asking her if they should stop and rest but she shook her head, they couldn’t afford to. She need to find Nick.

 Sudden snarling had them both skidding to a halt. Judy’s ears flicking to and fro while Finnick’s ears twitched. They followed the snarling farther into the hallway, keeping themselves pressed against the wall until they stopped at a metal door. The snarling was coming from the other side.

 “Finnick stay behind me,” she warned the small fox.

Finnick glared, “What do you expect to do if a giant feral cat comes out of that door?”  “If Nick is in there I’m going to need you safe so you can unlock the cages,” Judy told him, then glanced at him. “You can open the cages right?”

He pulled out the paper clip, “If it’s got a keyhole I can unlock it.”

            Taking a deep breath and bracing herself Judy pushed the door open just a crack and peered inside, she could see dozens of cages, some full of felines that were either snarling or asleep, some void of any mammal. Not spotting Ronno or Moriarty she opened to farther and she and Finnick slipped inside.

 The door closed behind them as they stepped into the room, Finnick staying close to her side as they walked past cages full of jaguars, cheetahs and tigers. Whether he stayed close to protect her or out of fear Judy didn’t know.

“Nick,” she called out softly, scared to raise her voice. “Nick?”

“Officer Hopps?” a surprised squeak came from her right. Judy turned to see Eleanor Sugar, staring at her like the sugar glider couldn’t believe her own eyes. “You’re alive?”

 “Eleanor,” Judy scurried over to her, Finnick on her tail. They knelt before her and Finnick immediately went to work on unlocking the cage. “Are you okay?” she noticed how her fur was messed and she could make out bruises and cuts on the mammal’s small body. Anger twisted Judy’s gut.

“I’m fine,” Eleanor insisted. “How did you survive? I thought you fell over the waterfall.”

 “I don’t have time to explain,” Judy said. “Where are Nick and Billy?”

 “I don’t know where the fox is but Mr. Beardby is over there.” She pointed over Judy’s shoulder. A few feet away the goat’s cage was placed between the cages of a lion and panther.

 With a click Finnick unlocked the sugar glider’s cage and she sprang out in an almost frantic way. Judy picked her up as she and Finnick hurried over to Billy and the fennec fox went right to work. Hearing them Billy raised his head, eyes bulging when he saw them.

 “You’re rescuing me?” the goat breathed.

“Of course we are,” Judy told him.

 “But I…I helped him make those awful collars,” Beardby pointed out.

“So did I,” Eleanor said in a tired voice. “We had to do what we must to survive.” She looked up at Judy. “Is my baby still okay?”

“She’s still with Nick’s mother,” Judy replied. “I’m sure she’s safe and soon you’re going to see for yourself.”

“What about my brother?” Billy asked quietly.

 “He’s going to be fine too,” Judy replied. “Eleanor, I found that jump drive you hid in Suzy’s rattle.”

 The sugar glider smiled in relief as Judy placed her beside Finnick. “I’m going to go look for Nick,” Judy told the fox. “He’s gotta be in here somewhere, come look for me when you get Billy’s cage opened.

 Finnick nodded, still focused on the lock and Judy hurried off. She moved past the cages, at one point having to jump back when a tiger reached his paw out to try and get her. Ronno already had them wild and ready for his plan.

            “Nick,” she called out again, she was starting to get frantic as she couldn’t spot him. “Nick, where are you?”  “Carrots,” the voice was a soft whisper of disbelief that sent a bolt of joy through Judy’s heart. She whirled around and spotted her partner in a cage, on his paws and knees and staring at her as if he couldn’t believe she was there. His paws were still stained in crimson and his eyes were bloodshot.

Judy shot forward and kneeled before the cage, wrapping her fingers around the bars, she was so happy to see him she didn’t notice how Nick pulled away from her.

 “ _You’re_ _alive_ ,” she breathed in tearful joy. Now that she was looking at him she finally accepted how sure she had been that Ronno had killed him.

 “So are you,” he said, his voice aching and he reached his paw out as if to touch her before letting it drop. “You’re alive.”

 “Hopps?” Finnick’s voice called out.

“Finnick, I found him!” she cried out and a few moments later Finnick appeared, followed by Billy who was carrying Eleanor. The fennec fox’s face was a mask of relief when he spotted Nick. He hurried over and moved to unlock the cage.

 “Finnick,” Nick’s voice was hard as he spoke. “You better know how to take this collar off me if you plan on unlocking that cage.”

 Finnick studied said collar, “There’s no keyhole.”

“Then don’t unlock that cage,” Nick replied.

 “What are you talking about?” Judy demanded, “Finnick, get him out.”

 “Don’t you dare,” Nick snapped at his friend.

“We’re not leaving you alone here, Nick,” Judy said in an exasperated tone. Finnick looked torn on what to do for a moment before he shook his head and started to unlock the cage.

 “Finnick, _stop_!” Nick snarled but didn’t move closer to stop him; he stayed crouched in the far corner.

 “You stop, Nick!” Judy was thrown by the fox’s strong objection to being freed. “We need you-”

 “What’s it gonna take, Carrots?” Nick demanded of her, his eyes wet as he snarled at her. “Do I need to tear your throat out for you to realize you’re not safe around me!?” He grabbed at the collar, “You can’t be around me while I have this on my neck. _Don’t you get that_!?”

 His words were met by silence and a moment later the cage’s lock clicked open and Finnick swung the door open. Nick didn’t budge.

 Judy sighed and looked to the fennec fox, “Get Eleanor and Billy out of here.”

 “What are you going to do?” Finnick asked her.

“I’m going to get Nick out of here if I have to drag him,” she replied.

 He looked at her for a moment then nodded, ushering the mammals out the door, neither needed coaxing. As soon as the door shut behind them Judy knelt down and extended her paw to him. “It’s time to go.”

 “No,” Nick replied, pressing his back against the bars. “I nearly killed you. I’m not going to let it happen again.”  “And I already left you behind once,” Judy replied, trying to keep her voice even but it cracked with emotion anyway. “I’m not doing it again, not ever again.”

 “Well, you should,” he snapped.

“No,” she replied just as viciously. She crawled into the cage and Nick’s eyes widened in fear. “You never left me behind! I won’t do the same again. That’s _never_ happening.”

 “Carrots,” his voice choked with an emotion. “Why do you have to be such a dumb bunny?”

 “The same reason you have to be such a dumb fox,” she repeated and reached out and grabbed the paw that was still coated with her blood. Nick flinched.

Judy tried to drag him out of the cage bur Nick resisted. “We need to go home, Nick,” she insisted, “Everyone’s waiting, the ZPD, Suzy, our _families_.”

 “Then get back to them,” Nick told her, trying to shake his paw out of her grip. “Ronno is still _here_ , Carrots. Get out of here before he finds you and makes me hurt you again!” His face twisted into pain, “I’m not worth saving, Judy.”

 She met his eyes with a fierce glare, “You’re my partner, Nick, if you’re staying here then so am I… There’s no Hopps without Wilde.”

            “I’ll make sure they write that on your graves.”

Nick pushed Judy out of the cage, the rabbit landing on her tail. She looked over her shoulder to see Ronno standing before her. He was calm as day, his hooves clasped behind his back. Behind him Judy saw Moriarty, he had Finnick and Eleanor pinned down with his paws and was sitting on Billy.

Fear had Judy’s heart picked up as she met Ronno’s eyes.

There was a savagery in his eyes that was far greater than the wild predators surrounding them. “I told you to die.”

 

.

 

            Bellwether led Frothy through the asylum’s hallways. Her legs still straining after that exhausting climb and now she was alone with a wolf she partly blamed for her bad life choices.

Said wolf had his nose in the air, sniffing. He glanced over his shoulder, “That bunny and fox went the other way,” he pointed out.

“Okay,” Bellwether replied, not breaking her stride.

“…Aren’t we going to go after them?”

 She shook her head, “They’re here to rescue their friend. But I for one refuse to let this deer get away, if I couldn’t outsmart them he certainly won’t.”

“So we’re going to…” Frothy broke off.

“We’re going to find the surveillance room and record him saying whatever he’ll say to prove he’s behind all this. And odds are he’s going to be saying such any minute now.”

 She turned a corner and hurried forward, knowing the surveillance room was just around the next corner. 

 But then a feral snarl echoed in the hallway and Bellwether was pushed to the floor, she stared up in shock and slight fear as Frothy crouched over her, his eyes glaring forward.

 Bellwether followed his eyes and flinched, stepping out of a corner on all fours was a hyena. She wore a collar similar to that of that silver fox’s. Her eyes were wide and wild, saliva dripping from her bared fangs.

The ground started to shake under her, but then Bellwether realized that was her shivering.

  “Cottontail,” Frothy whispered to her. That was a name she hadn’t heard in years. “I’m going to distract her; you need to run to that surveillance room.”

 Her brow knit, “You’re helping me?”

He nodded eyes still on the hyena, “Yep.”

 “Why?” she demanded quietly.

 He smirked and looked down at her, “For one thing as a predator I’m offended by that deer’s master plan. And the other…I like you. And if you die who’d make me those strawberry muffins?”

 And then he lunged toward the hyena who met him half way, the two grappled and rolled around the floor. Despite Frothy not being savage he had no qualms with using his fangs either.

 Bellwether jumped to her feet and hurried down the corner, the snarling of the two predators ringing in her ears as she made it to the surveillance room. She opened the door and walked inside, the wall was covered by computers that showed off the entirety of the asylum. She moved to shut the door but hesitated, still hearing Frothy fight that hyena, both for the city and here.

 She sighed, she was an idiot. “Get in here!” she screeched out and a few moments later Frothy appeared around the corner. He ran into the room and helped her slam the door shut; a second later they felt the hyena slam her body into the door. Bellwether locked the door as claws scraped against the door.

 “Thanks, Cottontail,” Frothy leaned against the door, panting. Despite the fact it had only taken less than a minute for Bellwether to reach the surveillance room he was covered in bleed scratch and bite marks. “I kinda bit off more than I could chew there.”

 “Are you going to be okay?” she asked him.

When he nodded she hurried to the cameras and studied the screens, her eyes widened when she saw a room full of cages, the deer was there…along with Judy.

 

.

 

            “You know what? I’m not going to say anything,” Ronno said. “I obviously made an err in judgment when I decided to let that waterfall end you. That’s not going to happen again, Hopps. Now, I’m going to sit back, relax, and watch with unblinking eyes as Wilde there rips you to pieces.”

 Nick’s body tensed up but Judy scowled. She rose to her feet to glare at the deer, “You’re plan isn’t going to work, Ronno. We stopped Ray from taking those predators to Animalia.”  The deer smirked at her, “You figured my plan out; I knew you were a smart rabbit.” His eyes narrowed, “Sadly smart doesn’t mean not suicidal.”

 He lifted an arm up and there in his grasp was the remote, Judy’s muscles coiled, ready to jump and snatch the remote. But then he clicked a button, “Sic her, Wilde.”

 “No,” Nick breathed shaking his head frantically, “No, no, no-” his words ended in a whimper. Judy turned around to see him clutching at the collar, his back arched and his teeth gritted together.

 “Nick,” she and Finnick spoke in unison. But then the red fox’s muscles relaxed and his paws dropped to the ground. A moment later he lifted his head, his pupils dilated and his hackles rising. His eyes narrowed in on Judy.

 “Judy, run,” Finnick told her and the rabbit complied.

 She turned and sprinted farther into the room, with a snarl Nick raced after her. Ronno’s menacing laughter rang in her ears along with Finnick and Eleanor’s struggling.

Judy hadn’t been running for long before she realized she wouldn’t be able to keep it up, she was just so tired and in so much pain. Nick was catching up to her as she tried to take as many turns around cages as possible, the predators inside watching with glinting eyed interest.

            Judy had made a full circle around the large room before she finally tripped and collapsed to the floor, only feet away from Ronno and the others who watched her fall. The deer’s and Moriarty’s eyes were alit with blood thirsty excitement. Finnick and Billy looked at her with horror and Eleanor had her eyes shut.

 There was a growl as Nick crept toward her, his shadow falling over her. Judy looked up, her aching body shivering as the fox loomed over her, his muzzle extending toward her. She closed her eyes and waited, waited for his teeth to bite down on her throat, waited for the pain and the blood and the darkness.

 Nick opened his jaws, his white teeth flashing and then he leaned down…and licked her cheek.

            Judy’s eyes popped open and she stared up at Nick, his eyes were still that of a wild animal, he was still on all fours, but the hostility was gone. He nuzzled against Judy’s neck as if he was a newborn pup and the rabbit had absolutely no idea what was going on.

 No one else did either.  “What’s going on?” Ronno spat, he turned to look at Eleanor and ripped the sugar glider out of Moriarty’s grasp. He held her by the neck and snarled at her, “What did you do with the Night Howler serum!?”

 She flashed him a condescending look, “I did exactly what you told me to do. It enhanced the predator’s most primal instincts.” She pointed at Nick who still nuzzled protectively against Judy. “ _There’s_ his most primal instinct.”

Judy’s eyes bulged as she remembered when Nick had first turned savage and fought the hyena…Judy had been trying to break up the fight, she had been too close to danger when Nick clawed her, it had been an accident. He hadn’t been trying to hurt her he had been _pushing her away from the fight_!

 Enraged Ronno let out a frustrated hiss and threw the sugar glider to the floor, making her let out a painful cry. Judy stood up but just then Ronno placed his foot over Eleanor’s throat. “I’m going to have Moriarty kill that rabbit,” Ronno seethed at Finnick and Billy. “If either of you try to interfere I _will_ break Dr. Sugar’s neck.”

 The two only glared at him as Moriarty released them, standing up and stretching. He faced Judy and Nick with a happy grin, the bunny could tell he had hoped something like this would happen. He wanted to kill Nick.

 Ronno pressed another button on the remote and the maned wolf dropped to all fours, snarling and snapping his fangs. Judy took a step back, unsure what she could do when she was too weak to run from those teeth. But then Nick jumped in front of her, blocking her from Moriarty. Her partner let out a fierce growl as if he daring the wolf to come closer.

            The two predators circled each other as Judy stepped away, her mind racing. Moriarty roared and ran at Nick who was ready with teeth and claws. Judy flinched and looked away as the two fought, claws sliding through fur and teeth nipping at necks. Judy’s eyes went to Ronno who was watching the fight with glee. Her eyes trailed to Eleanor who was struggling under his foot, then to Finnick.

Feeling the rabbit’s eyes on him Finnick looked up at her, Judy indicated to Ronno, showing the deer was distracted. The fennec fox’s eyes narrowed, his muscles tensed, and then he shot toward Ronno, slamming into his leg. The deer fell forward with a startled noise, the remote sliding across the floor as Finnick picked up Eleanor and carried her back to Billy’s side.

            “No!” the deer cried out and scrambled for it just as Judy made a run for it. Frantic she managed to kick it out of the deer’s reach. Ronno slammed his arm across her, making her fall to the floor with a huff of pain; she could feel the stitches that held her wounds together stretching. Ronno crawled for the remote and Judy’s vision nearly went red as she jumped on top of him, wrapping her arms around his throat.

 “Finnick, get the remote!” Judy screeched as the deer struggled under her, trying to tear her off him. He rolled onto his back and pressed his weight against her, Judy let out a scream of pain as she felt her ribs pressing against her lungs.

 Nick was being pinned down by Moriarty, clawing at his eyes, when he heard Judy cried out, spotting her being crushed under the deer he kicked the maned wolf in the throat with his feet. The wolf jumped away, making a gasping noise and Nick lunged toward the deer.

 Still being pressed against the floor Judy’s ears perked as she heard Ronno scream. The deer leapt to his feet and tried to rip Nick off his shoulder, the fox’s teeth digging deep into the flesh and his claws tearing at the police uniform the deer still wore.

 In the corner of her vision Judy saw Finnick reached the remote and without further ado crushed it under his feet. Judy slipped off Ronno’s back with a wave of relief. She jumped away as the deer still struggled with Nick’s jaws clamped on his shoulder.

 “Nick,” she called out, not wanting to see her friend rip out a hunk of flesh from Ronno’s shoulder.

 The fox’s ears perked and he jumped off the deer who feel to his knees, blood pooling from the bite mark. Nick hurried to Judy’s side and frantically sniffed her but the rabbit kept her eyes on the deer and maned wolf, the latter managing to suck in breath from his sore throat.

            “No,” Ronno stared at the shattered remains of his remote, “No.” He glared at Judy, “This isn’t over! I can build another one! You haven’t beaten me, you haven’t!”

 “I have,” a voice suddenly crackled over the intercom.

 Judy stared up at the ceiling in surprise, “Bellwether?” After everything that had happened Judy had forgotten the sheep had come along.

 “Who is that?” Ronno demanded, his head turning this way and that.

“Just someone who has using the security cameras to record everything that’s just happened…which includes everything you just said.” Judy noticed one of the security cameras hanging in a corner of the room.

 “Don’t you dare,” the deer seethed. “I know who you are; you’re that former mayor Bellwether! Why are you helping them?! You wanted to get _rid_ of the predators!”

            “I know,” Bellwether stood in the surveillance room with Frothy by her side. The wolf watching her with impressed eyes as she smirked at the screens, “But let’s just say some mammals change…and I’m one of them.”

“You lost, Ronno,” she finished with finality.

 The deer looked like he broke. Judy’s eyes turned from him to Moriarty who was still very feral and was looking around the room with a hungry glint to his eyes.

 “Billy, Finnick,” she spoke up, “Get Eleanor and get out of this room.”

The goat picked up the sugar glider and followed Finnick out; Judy followed a few steps and was relieved when Nick followed after her.

 Moriarty snarled and Judy ran, Nick keeping pace with her but she noticed he was limping.

 “Get back here,” Ronno suddenly screamed, looking over her shoulder she saw Ronno rising to his feet and charging after them.

 Nick snarled and Judy panicked that he wouldn’t follow her. “Nick, come on!” she begged running faster toward the door. Finnick was holding it open, urging them to hurry.

The desperation in her voice must’ve worked because Nick stayed by her side, running with her. They made it to the door, Judy whirling around and alongside Finnick slammed the door shut.

 Ronno tried to force the door open but Judy and Finnick, along with Billy helped keep the door close. Judy heard the snarling of Moriarty coming to the door and then Ronno stopped trying to force the door open.

 “No,” Ronno’s voice called from the other side of the door, panicked and frightened. “Stay back! Don’t! Don’t-” There was a howl, followed by a scream and the sound of something being torn and ripped. Judy fought back a wave of nauseous.

 The five walked away from the door, walking aimlessly as they tried to find either Bellwether or the door. Nick stayed close to Judy’s side; by the way he pressed his shoulder against her she guessed he could sense how exhausted she was.

            The drone of sirens made her stop in her tracks, “The ZPD are coming.” Billy and Eleanor sat down with relieved sighs, taking that as a sign they didn’t have to walk anymore.

She looked at Finnick, “How did they…?”

He shook his head in a exasperated/fond way, “Perry and Fidget aren’t good when it comes to following plans.”  Right then Judy wanted to give the platypus and bat a hug, but instead she dropped to her knees. Her limbs were lead, her wounds throbbed, she was so tired and in so much pain. Nick wrapped his body around her, resting his head in his lap.

And she was so happy.

 She wrapped her arms around the fox’s neck and buried her face into his neck ignoring the collar, he still smelled like the Nick Wilde she loved. The weight that had been crushing her since she snooped through Nick’s phone finally left. They were together, Ronno was dead, they found Eleanor, and they were all safe.

 With the case officially solved she closed her eyes and drifted off, Nick’s warmth fur wrapped around her.

 

 

 


	29. Aftermath

            When Judy’s consciousness came back the first thing she detected was the scent of antiseptic and…carrots?

 She forced her eyes open, her eyes blurry from the lights above her. She was in a hospital bed.

Her eyes trailed to the left and she spotted her parents sharing a chair together, Bonnie lying against her husband’s shoulder, eyes closed while Stu stared at the TV in the corner where an old sitcom was playing.

 She spoke, her voice as dry as sandpaper, “Daddy?”

            Instantly both her parents jumped off the chair and hurried to her side, Bonnie taking her paw with their eyes watering up.

“Oh, sweetie,” Bonnie breathed, choking up. “Are you okay? Can we get you anything? Water? Do you need your pillows fluffed?”

 Judy shook her head softly, “No, I-I’m fine.” Her body still ached but it wasn’t as bad as before, she felt the tightness of bandages wrapped around her torso and an IV drop sticking from her arm.

  “What happened?” she asked them.

“Everyone thought you were dead,” her father spoke, his voice wobbling. “But the ZPD had gotten a call from some mammals from the hospital and found you and Nick at the Cliffside Asylum.”

 “You were all brought here,” Bonnie added.

Judy thought of sitting up but decided against it, “Where’s Nick? Is he okay?”

 “He’s fine,” Stu answered. “His mother’s with him in another room, he had to be injected with the Night Howler antidote.”

Judy let out a sigh of relief and sinked against the pillows that felt like clouds, “Thank heaven… What about Finnick? Bellwether?”

“The sheep?” Bonnie asked her, “She’s back at the house she was supposed to be in.”  “I made her leave,” Judy told them. “I need to tell Chief Bogo.” She tried to sit up but her parents eased her back down.

 “Visiting hours will be over soon, dear,” Bonnie told her. “You can do whatever you need to do tomorrow.”  Judy relented; if she was honest the only thing she really wanted to do right then was sleep. But she had one more question, “What happened to Ronno and-and the collared predators.”

 “That deer that called himself a cop was killed,” Stu answered; by his tone the news didn’t bother him in the slightest.  “All the predators they found got the collars taken off and given the antidote just like Nick, and then they were sent to the prison.”  “But everyone else,” Judy wanted to clarify before her consciousness slipped away again. “Everyone else is fine?”

 They nodded just as a beaver nurse walked in to announce that visiting hours were over.

 “We’re staying at a nearby hotel,” Bonnie told her daughter. “The nurses have the number if you need us.”

 They wrapped her into a hug that nearly made Judy grunt in pain but she held it back, she could feel the relief oozing out of her parents. They had thought she was dead, she almost was and that thought had her return the hug tenfold. They both kissed her goodbye and she kept her eyes open until they left the room with a final wave.

 

.

 

            The sound of rustling woke Judy up, the room dark, the window showing it was nighttime. She startled, spotting a pair of green eyes looking down at her. After she adjusted to the darkness of the room she realized those eyes belonged to Nick.

He was sitting on the edge of her bed, his arms, neck and legs wrapped up in bandages and he wore a hospital gown similar to hers.

 Judy’s heart nearly burst out of her chest and she broke into a grin, sitting up and extending her arms toward the fox to wrap her arms around him. But before she could Nick brought his paws to her shoulders and pushed her back onto the bed. Judy stared up at him in surprise as Nick lifted one paw off her shoulder and used it to lift her gown up to her stomach.

 “What-what are you doing?!” she demanded trying to pull her gown back down but stilled when Nick placed his paw over the bandage that hid her claw marks. The expression on his face had Judy swallowing painfully, and she sat up, pushing his paws away from her.

 “Don’t,” she ordered, looking him in the eye, “Don’t look at me like that.”

 Nick’s licked his lips and stared at her with a heartbroken expression that Judy couldn’t stomach.

 “What are you doing in here?” she asked him, keeping her voice down in case a nurse passed the door.

 “I snuck out of my room,” he breathed. “I didn’t believe them when they told me you were okay.”  Judy offered him a soft smile, “I’m fine, just fine. Thanks to you.”

 He snorted bitterly and looked away, “Yes I was such a help when I tried to claw your guts out.”  “I said stop,” she snapped. She reached her paws out and grabbed his face between her paws, forcing him to look at her. “You know why I’m alive right now, Nick? Because you saved me. That Night Howler didn’t make you savage it brought out your most primal instinct, and that instinct was to protect me.”

 Nick didn’t look like he believed her; Judy suspected he didn’t remember what he had done when he was under the control of the collars. “But the wounds…” his paw reached over to touch her stomach but only hovered over the gown. Judy grabbed his wrist and brought his paw to her torso. “That was an accident; you were trying to push me away from the fight.”

 She reached her arms out and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to lie on the bed beside her. Nick slipped his paws around her waist and held her against his chest.

“I love you, Carrots,” he breathed into her ear, “I’m so happy you’re alive.”

 Judy buried her face into the fur of his neck, “I love you too. I love you so, so much.”

            When they were both finally convinced the other wasn’t going to disappear if they let go they started to talk. Holding paws between each other Judy apologized for her distrust of him, Nick smiling softly at her as she stammered over the words. She knew he didn’t even care about what she had said back at the asylum.

 “I have something to tell you,” he said as she finished. “Something I should’ve told you a long time ago…But I was too scared to.”

Her brow knit, “Scared?”

He nodded somberly, “I was scared you’d leave me. But you know what, Carrots? Having you leave me and be alive and well is a whole lot less scary than you not being alive at all.”

 Judy’s grip tightened around his paw, “You can tell me anything, Nick. Always.”

            So he told her about the Pack.

How he had met them, how they had treated him as friends just when he needed them, how that was the reason he had been dragged onto the other side of the law. He told her how it was just him, all on his own, that had been so angry he had attacked the prey that had hurt him.

 When he was done he couldn’t meet Judy’s eyes, not until she pulled his chin up and made him do so, their noses touches as she looked at him with the tenderest of eyes. Then she snuggled into his chest and he held her for all he was worth and finally, _finally_ , the past was in the past.

 

.

 

            Nick was woken quite suddenly by a weight on his chest. He grunted in pain, waking up Judy in turn and the two opened their eyes to see a small sugar glider sitting on the fox’s chest.

 “Suzy!” they both said joyously, sitting up.

Nick pulled the sugar glider into a hug while Nick kissed her cheek. The fox chuckled as Suzy kissed his chin. Judy turned to the door to see Eleanor standing there, the older sugar glider walked over to Judy’s side while Nick started to tickle Suzy.

 Eleanor held the bunny’s paw, “We were just about to leave but Billy asked me to send you his gratitude, his brother was given the antidote and he took him home. And I wanted to thank you personally. You and your fox saved my baby’s life and mine.”

 Judy smiled softly at her, “All in a day’s work for the ZPD.”

 Eleanor looked at her daughter who was still squealing under Nick’s tickling claws. “I think you both did more than that.”

 She let Nick and Suzy play a little more before saying it was time for them to go, they needed to get their home fixed but Eleanor insisted they visit whenever they wanted to.

Nick held Suzy up to be at his eye level, the baby holding her tiny paws on Nick’s nose. “You be a good little rascal, okay?” he told her, his green eyes warm with affection. “I’ll be visiting so you make me proud.” He kissed her cheek and Suzy kissed his nose. The sugar glider nuzzled Judy’s cheek in goodbye before leaping into her mother’s awaiting arms.

            They waved goodbye as the Sugar family left.

But they were gone for only a few seconds before Amelia Wilde appeared in the door, she fixed Nick in a glare. “Nicholas Wilde if you ever escape your hospital room again I swear…” she shook her head before walking over and pulling them both into tight hugs.

They were freed from her hug a few moments before Judy’s parents arrived, giving Amelia a polite greeting before surprising Judy by pulling Nick into a hug. The three parents sat together in a couch as Nick and Judy steadily received more visitors.

            The first were the Unusuals, Finnick screaming at Nick for being such an idiot while he had his arms wrapped around the fox’s torso. Fidget and Perry told Judy about how the hospital had demanded where they got the antidote and savage predators; they had panicked and end up telling them the truth who called in the ZPD. Surprisingly Chief Bogo had believed their words, saying it sounded just like Hopps and Wilde. Judy had never felt such affection for the big buffalo.

“Also that bear, Casper,” Fidget added. “As soon as she gets bail we’re gonna get her to join our band.”

            Just then Bogo, Clawhauser, and a few members of the ZPD arrived and crowded into the room. Clawhauser in tears and blubbering over the two of how he had been so sure they had died and had eaten so many donuts it nearly took a donut shop out of business by eating all their stock.

 When the cheetah had calmed down Bogo sat down next to them and told them that what they had done was dangerous and they should’ve relied on the ZPD more. But he was proud of them and so glad they were safe.

 “Glad enough to make us detectives?” Judy dared to ask.

Bogo gave her a funny look, “Hopps, if you hadn’t walked off that day I would’ve told you there was no need to prove yourself. I would’ve been happy to make you two detectives.”

 Judy’s eyes widened and Nick gave her a droll look. But before he could say anything about how silly his partner was when a high-pitched shriek and then Fangmeyer and Delgato were stepped back as Fru Fru ran into the room and somehow managing to climb up onto the bed.

 “Juju! I heard you got hurt and they couldn’t find you and then I heard they found you and Nicky at the asylum and I was so worried and you’re my baby’s godmother you can’t go and die on me like that!” She wrapped her tiny arms around Judy’s neck and sobbed, Judy patted her friend’s back.

            When Fru Fru finally managed to calm down she patted Nick’s paw and told him she was happy he was okay too, Nick took her words with a sweet smile.

 “Miss Hopps?” the beaver nurse came in, holding a phone. “You have a call, they said put it on speaker.”

 Confused Judy took the phone and spoke, “Hello?”

 “YOU’RE ALIVE!” Sven’s ecstatic yell nearly made Judy drop her phone. Nick rolled his eyes while everyone else in the room looked either amused or confused.

“I told you she was alive!” Winter’s exasperated voice came from the phone. “You saw it on the news, I saw it on the news; everyone saw it on the news!”

“And don’t yell,” Charlie spoke up. “They’re at a hospital you need to speak quiet.”

 “Hey, guys,” Judy quickly spoke up before the three started a conversation. “I’m fine. And so is Nick.”  “Hi,” he said to the phone.

 The three started on again, managing to say they were happy they were okay before going on about volumes and hospitals and other random things. Judy finally told them goodbye and hung up the phone. But as she handed it back to the nurse she remembered something she needed to do. “I need to make a call.”

 

.

 

            “I wanted to say thank you.”

Judy stood in the hall way, Nick entertaining their visitors while she made a call to Bellwether.

 The line was silent for a moment before she spoke up, “You really shouldn’t…” ”But I want to,” Judy replied. “You-you really helped me back there.” ”I had my own reasons for helping you,” Bellwether said softly, her voice saying so much more than words ever could.

 “How is Frothy and Casper?” Judy asked.

 “They’re fine. Casper won’t be here much longer, she’s just a honey shiner. But me and Wade will be roommates for a while.”

 Judy wanted to say she’d try and make her house arrest short but she didn’t know if she could keep that promise. And despite her help Judy knew Bellwether needed to stay under the house arrest. At least for now.

 “Do you think you two will be okay?” she asked.

When Bellwether spoke it was like Judy could hear her smile softly, “Yes, I think we will be. See you when I get out Hopps.”

 “Bye, Bellwether.”

            Judy hung up the phone and turned to see Amelia stepped out of the room, smiling at the bunny as she walked over. “Everything okay? Nick sent me to check on you. He would’ve done it himself but Finnick and Clawhauser forced him to stay in bed.”

 Judy chuckled, “Everything’s fine.” She smiled at the vixen, her mind trailing to one of the last conversations she had with her.

 “Mrs. Wilde,” she spoke up, her voice serious. “I need to ask you something.”

 


	30. You Know You Love Me

 

            It was a few weeks later when Judy suggested they go for a walk. They had been released from the hospital three days after the big visit and had been on sick leave, Nick’s leg having taken a serious bite from the asylum episode.

 They spent most of that time cuddling, Judy slipping out when Nick was asleep to fetch snacks and other such items. The fox always pouted when he woke up without her in his arms but then she’d kiss him and he’d forget what they were arguing about.

            But now they were out for a walk of fresh air, Nick’s arm over Judy’s shoulder as he still nursed his leg. Judy led them to the old bridge where their friendship had turned into something more solid than either would’ve guessed. And while she walked her heart was about ready to burst out of her ribcage from the nerves she was trying to keep back.

 “You okay?” Nick asked, apparently noticing how her fur was sticking up.

 “Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s just take a break.”

            Nick leaned against the bridge, his elbows resting on the stone. “It’s a nice day out.”

 “It’s a beautiful day out,” Judy replied, looking up at the cloudless blue sky before turning to Nick. “But hey, I bought something yesterday, I want you to see.”

 She pulled out a brand new carrot pen. Nick smirked, accepting it when she offered it to him.

 “Do me a favor?” she asked. “Press the button.”

            Nick did so and Judy’s voice crackled out of the minuscule speaker: “Dumb fox.”

He smirked sardonically at her, but Judy said, “Keep listening.”

 “I know things have been rough with us. Arguments are bound to happen, and it’s okay as long as you apologize. So let me repeat myself and say I am so sorry, not for just what’s happened these last few days but for everything else. From back when we first met with the press conference, to all the times I scolded you for playing with your phone on duty. You’re going to forgive me; I know you will, that’s one of the best things about you. And trust me that’s a long list. That night in the hospital when you broke in and we hugged each other, both so happy to be alive I started making that list. And while doing so I reminded myself of what you are: You’re brave, honest, loyal, and trustworthy. But you’re also funny and smart and so sweet and just…you’re so much more, Nick Wilde.”

Nick was expressionless as he listened to the recording.

 “And you’re going to become even more that what you already are,” Judy’s voice continued. “I really, _really_ want to be there to see that. In exchange I’ll trust you with something very important: my heart… That being said I have only one question:”

 The recording stopped and Nick’s brow knit in confusion. But then he felt Judy grab his paws in both of hers and when he looked down at her she was on one knee.

 She stared up at him with wide violet eyes that shimmered with emotion; she took a deep breath and spoke: “Nicholas Piberius Wilde. Will you marry me?”

            Nick’s jaw dropped, his eyes looked ready to fall out of his head; he didn’t answer.

After a few seconds of the awkward silence Judy tried to speak, “N-Nick?”

 The fox pulled his paw out of her grip and shook them both frantically, “Give-give me a moment.” He took a few steps away and bent down, placing his paws on his knees. “I think I might pass out. _Phew_!”

 Judy jumped to her feet and hurried to him with concern, “Are you okay?”

“Fine, fine, fine,” he looked at her, tears were filling his eyes. “Why do you ask?”

“You’re crying!” she panicked, her eyes widening.

“No, I’m not,” he frantically rubbed at his face. “You’re crying, dumb bunny!”

Judy’s ears drooped and she took a step back. This had been a possibility she knew, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. “Nick if you…if you don’t want to marry me then just say so.”

 Nick turned to her and waved his paw madly, “Ididn’tsaythat! I did not say that! You’re just not realizing how big a deal this is.”

 Her brow knit, “Yes, I am.” Facing Bellwether, Ironclaw, and Ronno had been less scary then getting down on one knee and asking Nick to marry her. Not that she’d ever tell him that.

 “Then why aren’t you freaking out!?” he demanded, looking up at the sky as if the answer was there. “I’m a fox! And I’m older than you too!”

 “I don’t care about that, Nick,” Judy insisted. “I figured you didn’t either.”

 Nick shook his head frenetically, “I don’t! I don’t!” He fell onto his knees to be at eye level with her, “I love you, Judy Hopps! I love every single thing about you! I don’t regret anything that’s ever happened to us, the good, and the bad, it all brought us closer. I just…” he took a shuddering breath before continuing. “I just don’t want you to wake up and realize you’ve wasted your life with me.”

           Judy scowled, “Nick, I _love_ you.” She once again held his head between her paws, which was apparently the only way to get him to listen to her. “And the only thing I could regret is not being with you for the rest of your life. The only thing wasted is time without you.” She felt tears pooling in her eyes and her scowl was long gone, replaced by the adoring smile she reserved just for him: “I want to be at your wedding. I want to see you become a father. I want to see you as a grumpy old fox on a porch…but more than that I always want to be right by your side.

 “I want to be your wife, Nick. I want to be the mother of your kits. I want to be your wrinkled old porch mate. Marrying you would be the best decision of my life.”  Her paws dropped to her sides and she shrugged helplessly, looking away, “But even if you say no I still plan to hang out with you every single day for the rest of my life. So I mean you might as well say-”

 “Yes.”

           Judy whirled around to stare at Nick who looked just as surprised by the word that came out of his mouth.

 “What’d you say?” she breathed her lips hurting as her smile widened.

 Nick’s own smile appeared-the affectionate, dorky one he always reserved just for her.

 “Judith Lavern Hopps, I will marry you,” he told her, eyes glistening. “I will marry the carrots out of you.”   She broke into a mirthful laughter, joyful tears sliding down her cheeks and she was sure her heart was about to burst in the best way possible. “What does that even mean?”

 “Who cares?” he laughed along with her, reaching his arms out and picking her up. “I’m marrying the best bunny in the whole world!”  He spun her around, their laughter rising in volume before Nick lost his balance and they stumbled to the ground, arms still wrapped around each other.

 Their eyes met, emerald and violet, and they could hardly comprehend what the other saw in them but they didn’t plan on complaining.

Instead Judy kissed him, Nick tightened his hold on her, and they laughed against each other lips, the tears still streaming.

            It hadn’t been a graceful, elegant proposal in the slightest. But it had still been perfect because of one, simple, wonderful word.

“Say it again,” Judy breathed against his mouth, wanting to; _needing_ to hear it again so she was sure it wasn’t a dream.

 “Yes,” Nick whispered and nuzzled into her neck, his own voice choking up with emotion. “ _Yes_.”

 

 

 

 

 


	31. Blessings

The first mammal they told was Amelia. She had returned to her own house while Nick and Judy had recovered in the hospital and was enjoying a cup of tea in the kitchen when her son and the bunny came in. Their paws were interlocked and they wore smiles so big it looked like their faces would split in half.

 Amelia stood up from the table when they walked in, she took in their expressions and paws and before Nick could open his mouth she spoke: “He said yes!”

And then she was pulling them into her arms and squeezing the life out of them while her eyes were already feeling with joyful tears.

 Nick looked to Judy over his mother’s shoulder but Judy’s eyes were shut tight as she returned Amelia’s fierce hug.

“You already knew?” Nick asked as his mother finally released them, her smile not waning.

 Amelia’s eyes turned to Judy, “Of course, Judy asked me for my blessing back at the hospital.”

 Nick’s head whirled around to look at his brand new fiancée, Judy shrugged with a giggle, “I’m old fashioned.”

 The fox frowned slightly, in all the excitement he hadn’t thought about how he had always assumed, if and when the time came, _he_ would be the one to propose to Judy.

His mother appeared to have read his mind, she laughed softly, “Here, Nick.”

Amelia lifted her paw, where her wedding ring flashed. It was a simple silver band with a small diamond resting in its center, simple but elegant. With a final loving look to it Amelia slid the ring off and offered it to Nick who stared at it with shock and melancholy.

 “Mom…” Nick began.

 “We can’t take that,” Judy added softly.

But Amelia shook her head, “I want you two to have it, and I know your father would to. It’s our gift to you, to show Judy she is officially a part of the Wilde family.”

 With a shaking breath Nick accepted the ring, offering his mother a bittersweet smile before he turned to Judy who looked up at him with shining eyed anticipation.

            He kneeled down on one knee as his rabbit did just an hour ago and offered it to her, “Marry me, Officer Fluff?”

 She giggled and held out her paw, “I thought you’d never ask me, Slick Nick.”

Since the ring was fox-sized he slid it onto her thumb and Judy brought it closer to her smile to inspect it. Her eyes watered slightly as she let out a loving sigh, “It’s perfect.”

 Amelia pulled them back into a hug, sobbing happily now and Nick tried to calm her down, telling her she was embarrassing them. Judy reminded him that Clawhauser’s reaction would be tenfold when they told him.

 But when Amelia finally calmed down and started making the two celebratory tea Judy slipped away into a hallway, looking for a certain picture while Nick gave his mother the details on the proposal.

            The bunny found what she was looking for a few moments later, a picture on the wall of a handsome fox, he looked like a more mature, tired version of Nick.

Judy smiled up at the frame, “Hello, Mr. Wilde. I uh, I popped the question to your son today. He said yes, so I guess that means I’m your daughter now.” She held her ring paw up to the picture, “I hope you don’t mind that he gave me your wife’s ring, Mrs. Wilde said you wouldn’t.” Despite her happiness Judy’s ears dropped, “I really wish I could see you at the wedding, but I know you’ll be watching, and I promise Mr. Wilde I’ll take care of Nick… I love him more than anything.”

 

.

 

            The next they told were the ZPD. Nick had walked in, ready to just tell Bogo and Clawhauser and let them spread the news. But Judy had other plans, as soon as they entered the precinct she ran ahead of them and straight to Clawhauser’s desk.

 The cheetah didn’t even get a word in edgewise before Judy spoke, very loudly and for the entire building to hear: “WE’RE GETTING MARRIED!”

 All conversations ceased as all eyes turned back to her, Nick scurried over to Judy’s side while she showed off her ring to Clawhauser who looked to have gone brain dead.

“Clawhauser?” Judy looked up at the tubby cheetah with concern.

“You okay, buddy?” Nick asked.

 “Sorry I think I momentarily blacked out,” the cheetah shook his head. “I could’ve just sworn Judy said you two were engaged.”

 They both chuckled and Judy showed off the ring once again, “I did.”

            The gasp Clawhauser released made the two jump and then he was literally crawling over the desk and pulling them into a hug. Judy had been right; it was much more bone-crushing than Amelia’s.

“YOU’RE GETTING _MARRIED_!” Clawhauser’s squeal could shatter glass.

 Meanwhile the rest of the precinct were either calling out congratulations or cheering/jeering about the WildeHopps Marriage betting pool (“I told you to wait a year!” cried out Willy the wolf).

 Judy laughed good-naturedly over the whole thing while still being held by Clawhauser. Nick slipped out of the cheetah’s grip and snuck away from the growing crowd. Judy liked the attention she could have it all as far as he was concerned, he was too busy trying to not feel so flustered.

He spotted Bogo walking out of the bullpen and motioning for him to come here. Feeling a sudden sense of dread Nick walked over to stand before his chief, he saluted him, hoping to get on his good side before the buffalo even spoke.

 “You’re getting married?” Bogo asked his tone unreadable.

 “Yes, sir,” Nick replied.

 “I’ve had officers marry before,” Bogo informed him, his eyes on Judy and her audience. “It interfered with their work, they would be unable to do their jobs because of fights they had nothing to do with the force.” Bogo’s eyes looked down at Nick, “I’ve seen marriages end because the animals were both officers.”

 “Well, no offense, chief,” Nick said. “But they weren’t me and Carrots.”

Bogo’s brows rose, “And?”

 “Come on, chief. You know us, we wouldn’t let anything get in the way of our job,” Nick offered a reassuring grin. “And now that I have Carrots…trust me, I’m not going to let her get away so easily.”

 Bogo fixed Nick with one of those intense glares he used when officers would get unruly or be insubordinate. Nick usually tried to ignore the look as much as possible, but not this time, this time he met the glare with a level, calm gaze. They stared at each other for a number of long seconds until finally Bogo blinked, and his lips turned up into a rare smile.

 He stretched his hoof out to the fox who looked surprised before taking it and receiving a firm shake from the buffalo.

 “Be good to her,” was all Bogo said, but it was all that was needed.

 

.

 

            To protect themselves from any further painful embraces Judy and Nick decided to tell Sven, Charlie, and Winter the good news over the phone. By the jubilated screaming coming from the other line they decided they had made the right choice.

            They called Fru Fru, Finnick, and the other Unusuals to have lunch with them. When Nick and Judy had arrived at the quaint restaurant Fru Fru was already there waiting for them.

 “When’s the wedding date?” she said as soon as they sat down.

Nick sent a look to Judy who quickly shook her head, “I didn’t say anything!”

 “I was once a bride too, you know,” Fru Fru reminded them, flashing her own ring that had a diamond that was almost too big for her finger. “I know what an animal sounds like when they’re going to marry their one true love. And I call maid of honor.”

            Judy and Fru Fru had been talking about wedding dates and where it would be held when Finnick and the Unusuals appeared. Saying Finnick was shocked to hear about the engagement was an understatement. Perry and Fidget simply gave them congratulations and ordered something to eat.  

But Finnick reached out and took Judy’s arm, dragging her away from the group. Nick stood up to follow after them but was stopped by Fru Fru. “I know that look too,” the shrew said. “Let them be.”

            Finnick led Judy outside before dropping her arm and turning around to stare at her in shock, “You’re _marrying_ him!?”

Judy frowned, not taking the disbelief in his voice to be a good sign. She wanted Nick’s best friend to be at their wedding, especially after everything they had all been through.

 “Yes,” she replied quietly.

“Nick’s never been married before,” Finnick told her like it was a very important fact.

 “I kinda assumed that,” Judy told him. “…Do you not _want_ us to get married?”

 “It’s not that…I just…” Finnick trailed off as if he wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. “Don’t let his calm façade fool you. He has no idea what he’s doing.”

 “Neither do I,” Judy laughed, “Yeah, I have a lot of relatives who are married but that doesn’t mean I know much about it.”

 The words didn’t look like they had appeased the fennec fox. Judy smiled assuredly, “You kinda became Nick’s big brother when you two met, didn’t you?”

 He seemed thrown off by the change of topic but gave a small nod, “We met when he was just a teenager… For a while there we were all I have, but now he’s a cop and getting _married_ , and I just…” he let out a sigh. “He’s getting married…”

 “I know you’re worried about him, Finnick,” Judy said. “But you know I’ll take care of him.”

 “Yeah, I know,” Finnick replied then gave her a rueful smile, “But it feels like just yesterday we were hustling pawpsicles.”

 Judy giggled and put her arms around the fox, Finnick tensed but didn’t move out of her embrace. “I’ll let you guys make some pawpsicles when we get back from the honeymoon.”

She felt Finnick’s shoulders shake with laughter and Judy continued talking: “You’re technically my brother in law now.”

 “Oh, the horror,” Finnick said, his voice warm with affection.

 

.

 

            The weekend came and Nick and Judy were on the Zootopia Express, about to make their announcement to the group of mammals who really, really needed to know: the Hopps family.

 Specifically they were going to get Stu and Bonnie’s blessing. It was a mission Nick was not excited about.

“My parents already like you,” Judy kept repeating to him, holding his paw as she did so. Nick looked ready to hyperventilate, “Yeah, enough to let me _date_ you. But enough to let me _marry_ you?”

 Judy’s brow knit, “My parents didn’t _let_ me do anything. I’m an adult, Nick, if I want to marry you I’ll marry you whether they like it or not.”

 Nick pulled his lips up in a tight smile as he looked down at her, “I want my fiancée’s family to be at our wedding.”

 “They will,” Judy insisted before she leaned her head against his shoulder. She chuckled softly, “This reminds me of when you first met my parents. You were so scared, and all for nothing too.”

 Nick slipped his paw around hers and stared at their interlocked fingers, “I don’t know if I would trust me with you if I was them…”

 “Nick,” Judy’s fingers tightened around his paw. “If there’s one mammal I trust with my life it’s you. Besides, I know for a fact my parents are going to give us their blessing.”

 Nick smirked at her, “What makes you so confident?”

Judy smiled up at him, “Because my parents tended to spoil me. When they see how madly in love I am with you they won’t be able to say no.”

 Nick’s nose nuzzled against her ear, “Save all the flattery for our vows, Carrots.”

            An hour and a half later the two were being welcomed into the Hopps house but a cheerful Mr. and Mrs. Hopps and their ecstatic children who immediately wanted to drag Nick out to the back yard to play ball. But Judy defended him from her siblings and told them Nick could play later, making the children run off with less of a skip in their step.

 “You should’ve called,” Bonnie told them as she ushered them inside the kitchen for some milk and carrot cake (and a few leftover blueberry muffins just for Nick).

“We wanted to surprise you,” Judy said, keeping her paws in her pockets. She sat down across from her parents while Nick leaned against the turned off stove all the while munching nervously on a cold blueberry muffin, his tail bushed out betraying his frazzled nerves.

 “We wanted to surprise you,” Judy told them, keeping her paws hidden from her parents until the opportune time. “We actually have some pretty big news.”  “What, are you expecting?” Stu joked with a laugh and Nick nearly choked on his muffin.

 “No, dad,” Judy rolled her eyes but even her heart was pounding as the inevitable moment was drawing near. “But it _is_ something pretty big.”  Stu and Bonnie shared a look before turning back to their daughter. “What is it, sweetie?”

 Judy let out a deep breath and placed her paws on the table, the ring catching the light from the sun beam that slanted from the windows. “We’re getting married,” she breathed.

 Her parents’ eyes bulged and their jaws went slack. They looked to the ring, to Judy, then to Nick who was visibly shaking at this point.

“I asked Nick to marry me and he said yes,” Judy replied, then look to said fox.

It took him a moment to realize she wanted him to talk, “We-we came to ask for your blessing.” His words were a little too loud and spoken a little too fast and he wondered if the two had managed to make out his words.

 “Oh you’re…you two are getting married,” Bonnie said, by her voice she had absolutely not idea how to take the news. Stu looked shell-shocked.

 “Yes,” Judy stood up and walked over to Nick, when she took his paw she nearly yelped when his fingers tightened painfully around her paw. “We are.”

 Nick swallowed painfully as her parents slowly wrapped their minds around the news. They both looked at each other again, their expression unreadable and Nick felt sick, he could imagine Stu and Bonnie screaming at them, telling them such a marriage was unnatural, they’d demand Nick to tell him what made him think he deserved their daughter (a question he didn’t think he’d have the answer too), they’d leave this house with ringing ears and no blessings.

            And then the two looked back to Nick and Judy…and smiled.

“Congratulations,” Stu said warmly.

Bonnie stood up and came forward to give them each a hug. Judy accepted it gleefully; her eyes welling up alongside with her mother, when she hugged Nick the fox almost forgot to return it. “I wished you had told us earlier,” Bonnie smiled at them, and then looked at Judy’s paw. “Where’d you get that ring?”

 Judy held it up with a soft smile on her face, “Mrs. Wilde gave us hers.”

 “You two asked for her blessing didn’t you?” Stu asked, walking over and wrapping his arm around his wife.

 “Yes, sir,” Nick replied. “Your daughter asked for it before she proposed to me.”

 Stu let out a loud belly laugh, “I can only imagine how Jude the Dude ‘romantically proposed’. Did she twist your arm and not let go until you said yes.”

 “ _Dad_ ,” Judy’s ears flushed while Bonnie rolled her eyes. Nick let out a chuckle, more from his intense relief than anything else.

 “So we do have your blessing?” he clarified.  “Of course you do, Nick,” Bonnie assured him. “We know you’d die before you let anything happen to our baby girl.”

 “Plus if Judes doesn’t marry you then she wouldn’t marry anyone,” Stu added.

Before Nick could say anything Bonnie looked back at he and Judy’s interlocked paws and her eyes lit up. “You don’t have a ring, Nick?”

 He shook his head, “My dad was buried with his, Judy and I can just save up and buy me one later.”

 But Bonnie was already shaking her head, a smile on her face, “Oh no, you aren’t. If our Judy is wearing a Wilde ring, _you’re_ wearing a Hopps ring.”

            Bonnie took Nick’s free paw and dragged him out of the kitchen, Judy following after since she still had a grip on him and Stu followed at a slower pace.

Bonnie led them to the attic where she disappeared inside for a moment before coming back down with a large jewelry box. She placed it on the floor and everyone knelt down before it as she opened it, inside were a number of polished rings of different sizes and designs, along with bracelets, necklaces, and earrings.

 “These rings have been passed down from the Hopps family for generations,” Bonnie told the fox. “You take one.”

 Nick stared at her, “Are you sure?”

 She nodded, “Positive.” Nick glanced at Stu but the rabbit was nodding as well.

Nick felt his throat tighten, touched by the gesture. “Okay then…um…” He looked down at the many choices, “Which one would you suggest?”

  Judy studied the array then picked up a thick golden band, slightly larger than the others. “This is from Grandpa Roger, isn’t it, Mom?”

 Bonnie nodded, “The very first Hopps.”

 Judy offered it to Nick, “He started a family tree, let’s start a new one.”

 Nick smiled tenderly and took the offering, sliding the ring onto his finger. Roger Hopps had been big for a rabbit and while the golden band was a tight fit, it was a fit nonetheless.

 “What do you think?” she asked him, her eyes smiling as she gazed at the ring. Bonnie and Stu both wearing proud smiles, as Nick looked up at his bunny.

 He kept his eyes on her as he breathed, “Perfect.”

 

 


	32. Wilde-Hopps

            The wedding was held in spring.

It took place in a large auditorium (there were no churches in Zootopia big enough for all the guests) that had a glass dome for a roof, showing off the bright blue sky above. In the auditorium was a large altar where Flash Slothmore decked out in the robes of a clergy stood patiently waiting. Before him were rows and rows of seats split in two halves. In one half consisted of ninety nine percent of the Hopps family, all chatting loudly at the many other animals at their sister/cousin/aunt’s wedding. On the other row sat Nick and Judy’s other invited guests, Flash’s family, Mr. Big and his polar bears, the ZPD of course, Percy and Lionheart, even Duke Weaselton had been invited-though the weasel didn’t look like he knew what he was doing there.

They were all waiting for the groom and bride to appear.

 

.

 

            The auditorium happened to also contain a hotel and said bride was standing in one room, smiling to her reflection from the full-length mirror with her mother and bridesmaids cooing over her.

 “You look beautiful, Juju,” Fru Fru cooed from where she sat on the bed with Winter and Mrs. Otterton. The latter’s husband outside with the rest of the crowd after finishing up his final touches for everyone’s flowers.

 “Mom’s dress looks great on you,” one of Judy’s sisters, Amy, added, running her fingers over the hem.

 Bonnie Hopps had seen many of her daughters marry with said dress and Judy was no exception, although the dress had to be altered a bit to fit. The silhouette was of a ball gown. The neckline was a sweetheart, shaped like the top half of a heart and it was strapless. The bodice was a large full skirt that made Judy feel like a princess. Her dress was a beautiful snowy white.  

 Charlie stood by the door carrying Judy’s trail that they would place atop her head when it was time to go.

 Bonnie stood with her other daughters, smiling at Judy with shiny eyed pride, “No matter how many of my babies get married, I never get over it.”

 “But I imagine this is the first time one of your babies married a fox,” Winter pointed out, earning some chuckles from the others.

 Judy kept her eyes on her reflection, noting how her bridesmaids had brushed her fur so relentlessly it looked as soft as clouds, the gray seeming to shine. As Judy looked at herself in a wedding dress, knowing that just on the other side of that door her wedding and groom waited for her, she couldn’t help but remember when she was a little girl. When she wasn’t planning out what she’d do once she became a cop and moved to Zootopia, she was imagining her wedding. She had figured she’d meet some city rabbit, maybe a lawyer or doctor even, who admired her for her ambitions instead of getting thrown off by it like rabbits back at Bunnyburrow. They would date, bond over coffee and carrot cake, and then a year or so later he’d propose to her at some amazing Zootopia landmark, they’d get marry and have a whole litter of bunnies all the while continuing their dream jobs.

 She smirked at her reflection, how things change. Not in Judy’s wildest dreams had she imagined falling in love with a con-fox, but she knew from the overwhelming warmth in her chest that it was the right choice.

 

.

 

            _“And then I kissed her, and while your mother would never in a million years admit it, it was the best kiss she could ever have. Future husbands know these things.”_

_Nick smiled up at his father from where they sat on the five year old kit’s bed. On the bed laid a couple of drawings, one of them was Nick dressed in a junior ranger scout outfit and another of him paw in paw with his mother and father._

_Max Wilde had come in to wish his son a goodnight when Nick had showed the pictures to him and Max, never one to resist telling a story, told his son the story of when he and Amelia first met. Nick, never one to resist listening to a story, had done so with pricked ears and a smile._

_“What happened next?” he asked his father._

_“What do you think?” Max smiled at his son. “We got married, and a stork dropped you off in a basket at our front door.”_

_Nick laughed, “Dad! That’s not how you get babies!”_

_Max’s eyebrows rose, “Oh, how do you get babies then?”_

_“You buy them at a baby store,” Nick lifted his nose in the air, proud to know something his father didn’t. “Mommy says I cost the most and everyone wanted me but she got me first!”_

_Max almost rolled his eyes and his wife said_ he _filled their son’s head with crazy things. “Actually I think you were half off because you wouldn’t wear diapers.”_

_Nick laughed again and pushed at his father’s arm with a small paw, “You’re a liar, Daddy!”_

_“I’m a liar?” Max pulled his son into his lap and started to viciously tickle his ribs, making the kit squeal with unbridled laughter. “Well that’s just mean, Nicholas. You never say that about Mommy.”_

_“Because Mommy’s too awesome,” Nick said through his mirthful tears._

_“And I’m not? You hurt my feelings, Nick,” Max grinned. His eyes started to shine with tender affection as he finally released his son,_ his _son, who was beautiful and perfect in everyway just like his wife. Max Wilde had been a husband and father for quite some years now and still didn’t know how he had gotten so lucky._

_“But you’re right,” he told Nick as he finally started to tuck his son in. “Your mommy is amazing. And if you’re lucky, you’ll meet a girl just like her some day.”_

_He kissed his son’s forehead, “Sweet dreams my little Slick Nick. Love you.”_

_“Love you too, Daddy,” Nick yawned sleepily before curling into his bed and his eyes drifting shut._

_Love you too, Daddy_ , Nick, in a hotel room and having his groomsmen making sure his tux wasn’t wrinkled, thought of that one night years ago before the bad stuff happened. He wondered what Max would think if he saw that the girl Nick had been so lucky to find was a rabbit. Nick imagined his father would laugh, and then he would hug Judy and make sure she felt like a part of the family.

 Nick smiled to himself as he looked down at the handsome, double-breasted black tux he wore that Max had bought for his own wedding day. The only difference was that Nick also wore his trademark dark indigo necktie with red and blue stripes even though it clashed with the suit; he thought it would be neat to wear the same tie he had worn when he and Judy had first met.

            “How are you feeling?” Finnick asked him, dressed in a fancy suit he had borrowed from the Hopps family. The fennec fox was Nick’s best man, his other groomsmen consisted of Clawhauser, Bogo, Sven, and a few of Judy’s already married older brothers (who really just offered for their baby sister’s sake).

 Nick placed his paws on his hips and pulled his lips back in a big smile, “Absolutely terrified!”

 Finnick and Bogo rolled their eyes, not expecting anything less from the fox. Clawhauser on the other paw frowned at him in concern, “Come on, Nick! You shouldn’t be terrified on your wedding day!”

 “Obviously he’s not married,” one of Judy’s brothers mumbled under his breath to his siblings.

 Nick turned his smile to the cheetah, “I beg to differ Ben buddy, this is a perfect time to be scared out of my wits! I mean, Judy and I have a very demanding and dangerous job, not to mention we’re different species so we can’t have kids, something I know Judy _really_ wants and further more-”

 “Nick,” Finnick interrupted his friend. “Calm down, you have a knack for being pessimistic in the best of situations.”

 “Plenty of my officers are already married,” Bogo pointed out to him, “Besides you already told me you weren’t going to let Hopps get away.”

 “And there is such a thing as adopting,” Finnick pointed out. “Though knowing the hustler she’s going to want to adopt an entire orphanage.”

 “The point is, Nick,” Sven spoke up. “Everyone gets a little terrified on their wedding day. I almost jumped out of a window…thank God my antlers got in the way.”

 “Window, huh?” Nick looked over his shoulder at the one large window the room had.

“Nick, no,” Clawhauser jumped in front of Nick and took the fox’s shoulders between his chubby paws. “I’ve- _we’ve_ waited too long for this to happen. I know you and Judy are soul mates and you’re literally a few minutes away from _marrying_ her!”

When Nick still looked like he would be sick Finnick stepped forward, “This wedding wasn’t cheap and we have half of the city out there, either you marry the hustler or I will.”

 Nick’s green eyes immediately snapped down to the smaller fox with a glare, “Yeah, no, that’s not happening. Carrots isn’t marring a mammal that could fit in her purse…if she had one…which she doesn’t because I carry her things, I also make sure she has her coffee in the morning, and that she gets enough sleep, and that no creepy mammals try to put the moves on her, and that she doesn’t do something really stupid and WHAT ARE WE STILL DOING HERE!?” He looked to his groomsmen with a hysterical expression, “I have to get to Carrots before she gets herself killed!” He dashed out of the room with Sven and Clawhauser on his heel, telling him his necktie was unknotted. Bogo and the Hopps brothers looked to Finnick who smirked triumphantly.

“I’m so good I scare myself.”

 

.

 

            Nick stood at the altar next to Flash, with Finnick and his groomsmen standing behind him, backs straight and expressions calm, cool, and collected, with the exception of Clawhauser who couldn’t stop grinning. He had waited for this day since Nick’s first day on the force.

Amelia and Bonnie were seated in the first row of the Hopps side, both pairs of eyes already wet with tears.

 Across from the groom stood Fru Fru and the other bridesmaids, the maid of honor caught Nick’s eye and sent him a sweet smile, Nick returned it.

 He was starting to worry that Judy was late (he had visions of her tripping or tearing her dress, getting food poisoning, or being kidnapped by some next door Bunnyburrow neighbor who had been love with her since they were kids).  But then the wedding march started.

            All eyes turned around to the front doors as they slowly opened and in walked the flower girls, Suzy Sugar and Judy’s youngest sisters, they were dressed in pretty sundresses as they tossed flowers of varying types across the aisle and even on a few of the crowd who chuckled and cooed at the girls. They reached the end of the aisle and then scurried to their mothers, Suzy waving happily at Nick before hurrying to jump into her mother’s lap. Behind the flower girls came Judy’s favorite niece Mina, carrying a velvet pillow that carried Nick and Judy’s rings. Usually the ring bearer was a boy but Mina had been determined to play an important part in her favorite aunt’s wedding and it wasn’t to be a flower girl.

Mina made it up to the altar where Finnick took the offered rings, he would hold onto them during the ceremony. Mina smiled at him, before going off to sit beside her grandma Bonnie.

And then Judy walked in. Nick’s breath caught in his throat.

She was an angel, the dress making her look like she had just stepped out of a storm of snowflakes, her gray fur soft and neat, her amethyst eyes glowing. Leading her arm in arm across the aisle was her father, Stu looking like he was ready to burst into tears. Behind them was Fru Fru’s daughter, Judy, carrying the trail, and by the smile on the little shrew’s face you’d think _she_ was the one getting married.

Fru Fru smiled proudly at her daughter as Judy and Stu made it to the altar, the little shrew letting the trail go and obediently walking over to her grandfather, climbing onto his lap.

            Judy smiled happily up at Nick who returned it, she tried to pull out of her father’s grip, but Stu wouldn’t let her go.

 “Dad?” Judy spoke, trying to pry her arm free from her father.

“Mr. Stu?” Nick stepped up, “You uh, you need to let her go.”

 He sent the fox a pained look, “You’re going to have to help me.”

 Bonnie let out a frustrated sigh as she saw her daughter and Nick trying to free Judy from Stu’s arm, she quickly hurried up to the altar to help pull her husband away.

“Honestly Stu,” she scolded. “This isn’t the first daughter you’ve given away at the altar.”

 “But I only have one Jude the Dude,” Stu’s voice cracked.

“It’s okay, sir. I got her.” He finally managed to pull Stu’s paws away and met the rabbit’s eyes, his words deep with meaning. “I got her.”

 Stu finally nodded and allowed his wife to drag him back to his seat where Amelia waited with an amused smile.

 Judy giggled softly and shrugged helplessly at Nick, he noticed her own eyes were starting to shine with tears and he leaned down to whisper in her ear: “You bunnies, so emotional.”

 She playfully nudged him in the ribs, “Hush up.”

He snickered, “You’re also beautiful.”

She smiled softly at him, “And you look very handsome.”

           They brought their attention to Flash Nick was positive if they hadn’t had an audience she would’ve smacked his shoulder for not lying when he said he’d get Flash to marry them all that time ago.

 The sloth looked to the two with a smile before he began the ceremony: “Dearly beloved…we are…gathered here…today…in the presence….of these witnesses…to join…Nick Wilde…and…Judy Hopps…in matrimony…commended to…be honorable….among all; and…therefore is…not to be…entered…into lightly…but…reverently…passionately…lovingly…and solemnly… Into this-these two…mammals…present now…come to be…joined. If any…mammal can…show just cause…why they…may not…be joined together…let them speak…now or…forever hold…their peace.”

Flash waited, longer than was necessary, and despite himself Nick worried that maybe someone would say something, either because Nick and Judy were two different species or because someone else was in love with Judy. But no one said anything the only sound was of guests letting out a couple of awkward coughs because of the prolonged silence and the impatient breath Judy exhaled.

Finally Flash continued, “These two…time together…solving crimes and…being heroes…have made them...see…their love…and understanding of…each other…grow and…blossom……and now…they have decided…to live out…the rest of…their lives…as one.

 “The newlyweds…may now…recite their…vows.”

            “Can I go first?” Judy asked Nick eagerly, jumping slightly in her enthusiasm.

Nick smiled down at her with a wry look, “Sure, we can save the best for last.”

Surprisingly she didn’t roll her eyes, she straightened up, taking Nick’s paws in her own before she cleared her throat and spoke loud and clear for the entire auditorium to hear, her eyes never breaking from Nick’s:

“When I was a kid I had my life planned out and the number one thing was to become the first rabbit officer of the ZPD. But despite what others might have thought I also knew I wanted to fall in love and get married-I just thought it would be with a rabbit. Turns out love is a little more complicated than that, it’s not about finding someone just like you, it’s about finding someone who fills in your missing pieces, no matter what they look like or who they are. Love is finding the other half of a soul and binding it together, forever. It’s about finding your other half, and I never imagined my other half would be a fox _and_ a con artist. But Nicholas Piberius Wilde, that’s exactly what you are. You made me see myself, the good and the bad, that I didn’t know was there. You made me see a different side of life; you helped me succeed in everything I do. And when I look at you, I’m reminded of something that’s true: Anyone can be anything. And right now you’re helping me prove that anyone can be with anyone. But I know life isn’t going to be easy, we’re both going to make some mistakes, but I also know we’re going to get through it. Because if there’s one thing we both do, it’s trying, and that is _exactly_ what I’m going to do. I’m going to try to be the best wife I could ever be, I’m going to try to get you to work on time, I’m going to try to keep you out of danger no matter what the threat be it criminals or relatives. I’m going to try to make you not want for anything; I’m going to try to not roll my eyes when you tell our kids all your bad puns. I’m going to try, every single day, for the rest of my life, to show you how much I deeply and completely love you… And I _vow_ to make your world a better place.”

            As Judy finished her vows Bonnie glanced at Amelia who sat next to her, the fox’s fur was damp with continuingly shedding tears.

“Are you okay?” Bonnie whispered to her.

“Hm? Oh, I’m fine,” Amelia wiped at her eyes. “I just know if Max was here he’d be bawling his eyes out so I thought I’d do it for him.”

 Bonnie glanced over to Stu whose tie was damp from him using it as a hanky. “I think my husband could help you out in that regard.” Amelia and Bonnie tittered quietly to each other.

           Meanwhile Nick was staring at Judy, his emerald eyes shimmering with emotion and his lips slightly parted as he tried to not be overcome with emotion from Judy’s words. Okay, he wouldn’t admit it but that was a _very_ good vow.

 “Nick,” Judy breathed, breaking him from his shell-shocked state. “It’s your turn.”

“Right, right,” Nick cleared his throat and released one of Judy’s paws. He lifted the free paw, holding two fingers up, Judy’s eyes glittered with amusement and Nick grinned cheekily as he started:

           “I, Nicholas Piberius Wilde, promise to be brave, loyal, helpful, and trustworthy.

I promise to be brave and to protect you from every bullet wound and every heart break until my very last breath. I promise to be loyal, right at your side, unmovable, for all the good and the bad. I promise to be helpful; I want you to always come to me when something’s bothering you. No matter what the problem, be it a dangerous case or you can’t reach the top shelf, I’m going to be there to always be your hero. I promise to be trustworthy. You can trust me with your heart, Carrots, because I completely trust you with mine…” Nick took both of Judy’s paws and placed them over his heart, his eyes never breaking from hers. “I lived my entire life with one mantra: Never let them see that they get to you. But Judith Laverne Hopps…you got to me. Despite everything you got to me, and do I love you for it? Yes, yes I do.”

            If Judy could’ve kissed him then she would’ve, instead the bunny rapidly blinked her eyes of the fresh tears that were shed and the smile that refused to budge, she clutched Nick’s paws tightly.

 Flash spoke up, “We will now…exchange…the rings.”

Nick looked over his shoulder to see Finnick hurrying over to their side and offering the two rings, Judy told the gold band, Nick took the silver.

 The fox slipped his mother’s ring onto Judy’s finger, marking her as his own. Judy quickly did the same, at this point wanting to hurry and officially be his wife. Even though Nick had worn this ring before it felt more secure on his finger this time, it was official, it marked him as _Judy’s_ and he never wanted to take it off again.

            Finally Flash straightened his back and looked out to the audience, “By the power…vested…in me…by Zootopia…I now…pronounce…you…husband.”

Nick’s heart skipped a beat.

“And…wife…”

Judy’s heart looked like it had stopped altogether.

“You…may now…kiss…the…bride…”

 Judy’s arms had already shot out and wrapped around Nick’s neck, pulling him to her lips. He cupped her face between his paws as he immediately kissed her back. The last time they had shared a kiss with such depth and meaning was at baby Judy’s birthday party when they shared a kiss for the very first time. And in a way this was their first kiss not as friends trying to figure out their feelings for each other, not as a couple learning how to share an apartment together, but as _newlyweds_ who would be spending their lives full of danger and adventure _together_.

 They heard the crowd applause, laugh, and whistle, some saying nothing because they were too busy smiling. For some of the witnesses this was a momentous moment, two of ZPD’s finest, two well known heroes of Zootopia who were greater inspirations then they even knew, were binding their lives together, showing the world that differences may be an obstacle, but it wasn’t a wall.

 But for Nick and Judy, they were just two regular mammals, utterly in love and kissing at the altar while Flash spoke words that were the sweetest music to their ears:

 “I present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Wilde-Hopps.”

 

.

 

            The wedding reception was held immediately after. Nick and Judy sitting at the head table, holding paws, while their parents and close friends sat with them.

Gideon Grey and his bakery had taken it upon themselves to cater for the wedding, the portly fox outdoing himself with a massive cake almost as tall as Bogo. To make it even better half of it was carrot flavored and half of it was blueberry. It of course had been delicious even if Nick refused to admit it.

But before the cake was allowed to be eaten Mr. Big had made a toast, holding his miniscule glass up and congratulating them in the warm voice of a father, saying that he was happy for them both, glad to see Nick had turned his life around, and that they would always have a place at his home. Judy knew Nick enough to know the toast met more to the fox than he let on.

            The crowd enjoyed their slices of cakes, but it wasn’t long before Stu walked into the middle of the room and tapped none too delicately on his wine glass and loudly cleared his throat.

 “Hey there…” Stu spoke up to the crowd. “I guess it’s time for my father of the bride speech.”

 A few of the Hopps family chuckled, no matter how many of Stu’s daughters got married he was never confident when it came to speeches.

 He smiled toward the newlyweds in an apologetic way, “I guess I should start this speech by saying I wasn’t always the biggest fan of foxes. I was like every other rabbit in the tri-burrows and thought all of them were no good and it took my crazy little girl to show me different. Not only did her becoming a cop lead to me making one of the best business decisions of my life.” At this he gave Gideon a friendly nod who returned it with a big grin. “But she also introduced me to, what I think, is one of the best foxes in the world.” His smile was affectionate as he raised his glass to Nick. “I don’t think I’ll ever be good with words or long speeches, so just pretend I just used a bunch of big fancy words to tell you one thing: Welcome to the family, son.”

 Nick blinked back his tears as other members of the Hopps family, Bonnie included, gave their vocal agreement to Stu’s amateur style speech that got right to the most important point. Nick was officially a part of the Hopps clan.

            The next mammal to give a speech was Fru Fru, the shrew standing on the table before the two but at this point she was blubbering as badly as Stu had during the wedding and Judy and Nick had to keep their ears pricked to understand her:

 “As someone who’s gotten married let me tell you there is _no_ better feeling than finding your true love. And-and to know my daughter’s godmother and my best friend knows the same feeling makes me _so happy_!” Fru Fru wrapped her small arms around Judy’s paw and the rabbit smiled adoringly at her friend. “You’ve saved my life, Judy, and so did you, Nicky, and you were both there to help me when I had baby Judy and I swear I’ll be there to help you both with anything you need!” The shrew looked up at Judy with shimmering eyes wet with tears, “You’re like the sister I’ve never had, Juju. I’m so glad you saved me from being crushed by a giant donut.”

 “I’m glad to,” Judy told her friend with wet eyes before giving her a hug, the shrew continuing her blubbering, all the while Nick shook his head fondly at the two emotional females before turning his attention to his best man that sat a few chairs from him across the table.

“Your turn,” Nick smirked.

 Finnick looked at him over his wine glass, “My turn for what?”

 “The best man has to give a speech,” Amelia told him from where she sat between the two.

 Finnick’s ears drooped in dismay, “Isn’t it enough that I kept him from jumping out a window?”

 Amelia frowned in concern at her son but Nick quickly kept talking, “Come on, Finnick. You and I had such fun times together, and now that I’m hitched we won’t have as much time to do that… You can talk about one of my embarrassing stories.”

 Finnick considered that, “I can tell everyone?”

Nick nodded solemnly before lifting a finger, “But just one.”

 Finnick finished his wine before walking out onto the stage the Unusuals would later be playing on. Despite himself Nick felt a small twinge of dread as everyone’s attention moved to the stage as Finnick made to speak: “I just want everyone to know I’m only doing this because Nick said I can tell you about one of his more stupid moments.” He smirked over at the fox while a few of the guests chuckled, “And I know just the story. It was one of our first con- _business trips_.”

 Nick’s eyes widened in fear as his friend continued, “We had just come up with our pawpsicle hustle, I’m sure most of you already know about that, well back then we didn’t know a single dad gets as much pity, if not more, than a single mom. So guess what we had to do? Find a skirt Nick’s size.”

 Judy was already laughing as Nick buried his face in his paws.

 “ _Nicole_ and I went to an ice cream shop across Zootopia to make sure no one would recognize us. Hopps, if you think Nick was dramatic as a dad you would not _believe_ how over the top he was as a single mother just trying to make sure her baby boy feels like an elephant. He gave a very emotional speech about the hardships of motherhood that I’m ninety nine percent sure he got from his own mother. And by the end of it he was shedding tears and had about four to five guys wanting to pay for her. We ended up getting more free ice cream than we had planned. But the reason we switched to single dad is because each of those “sympathetic” donators asked Nicole on a date.” He paused to let everyone laugh for a few moment, Nick sending his friend daggers from the eyes that were still hidden behind his fingers. “And Nicole was so into character she left that ice cream shop with four numbers.”

           If Judy had been sipping her drink it would’ve spewed over the table she was laughing so hard. Nick spoke up above the laughter, “Can your speech have anything emotional or related to today, Finnick?”

 The fennec fox smirked, “If it must. It was only by my dragging Nick away that he left without getting a boyfriend that day. And that started a chain of me having to drag him out of crazy situations brought on by his own stupidity.” His eyes turned to Judy and she was surprised by the warm expression she received. “But he found someone who does a better job at it than I do. I leave him and his idiotic antics to you…Carrots.” It was the first time he had ever called her by that nickname and to Judy it felt like he had just called her his sister.

 Finnick lifted his paw in the air as if making a toast: “To the brother I was lucky enough to have trip over me.”

 

.

 

            It was several minutes later, right when the Unusuals (now with their brand new drummer-a fresh from parole Casper) were on stage getting ready for the first dance, that they received a new visitor.

 Everyone whispered excitedly to themselves as pop star Gazelle walked into the room, heading straight to Judy and Nick. The fox felt the rabbit stiffen next to him and he fought back a smirk.

 The gazelle placed a white wrapped gift on the table before them before offering them both a winning smile, “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it here sooner.”  “It’s fine,” Judy quickly insisted. “I actually didn’t think you’d come.” She had asked Sven to invite her but hadn’t held too much hope that she would have time to come.

 “Of course I would,” Gazelle told her, her eyes looking at them both, “You two are such a great inspiration to me.”

 Nick was sure Judy’s face would break from the large smile that split her face. Just then Finnick called from his stage, “Gazelle!”

 She looked over her shoulder and smiled at him and his band, “Oh, I remember you. You opened up my last concert.”

Finnick nodded and held out the mic in his paw as if offering it to her, “Want to sing the first song with us?”

 “I’d love to!” she quickly hurried over to the stage and the welcoming grins of the Unusuals.

 Nick glanced down at Judy, “Are you going to be able to handle your favorite celebrity singing at your wedding?”

“If I swoon catch me,” Judy ordered with a giggle as the two stood up and made it to the middle of the dancing floor.

            The guests didn’t know whether to have their eyes on the newlyweds or the celebrity standing on the stage, though a majority reminded themselves today was Nick and Judy’s day and kept their eyes on them.

 Nick held one of the rabbit’s paws and placed the other on her waist. Judy’s paw that wasn’t interlocked with his own rested on the fox’s shoulder. The newlyweds smiled at each other and they completely held each other’s attention to the point they wouldn’t notice if none of their guests were watching them.

 The first strum of Finnick’s guitar was played; Judy and Nick instantly recognized the song and neither were surprised.

            “ _Your eyes glowing like the moon_.” Finnick and Gazelle sang in harmonic unison.

“This is officially our song,” Judy stated as they started to twirl around on the smooth floor.

“ _Your fur makes me want to swoon_.”

“A song a bunch of teenagers used to get lucky back in the nineties?” Nick asked with a smirk, “Oh yeah, definitely our song.”

 Judy only rolled her eyes as they continued to sway, Nick’s paws warm against her fingers and hip.

“ _And if I could howl, howl you know I would_.”

Nick’s grip tightened and Judy felt butterflies in her stomach as his emerald eyes never left her gaze. She couldn’t remember Nick looking at her for so long, at least not while she was looking back.

“ _Because you make me feel feelings I never knew I could_.” She leaned her head against his chest, taking in the familiar scent of his musk, “So how does it feel?”

“How does what feel?” Nick whispered back.

“ _You’re as pretty as a flower_.”

 “To be married to a rabbit?”

“It feels like this,” Nick pulled her up into her arms and spun her around while the song continued (“ _Over my heart you hold so much power_.”)

 Judy giggle as her dress billowed around them both, her heart fluttering as if she were actually flying. And then Nick let her feet rest on the floor again but didn’t remove his arms that were wrapped around her.

“ _And if I could sing, sing I would_.”

 “You’re smothering me,” she mumbled into his tie.

“Let me,” Nick teased, his breath blowing across the top of her head.

“ _Because you make me feel feelings, I don’t know if I should_.” Judy pulled her head away and beamed up at the fox, “You’re ridiculous.”  “Yet you married me anyway,” Nick grinned back.

“ _And if you’ll hold me, hold me true_.”

Judy wrapped her arms around Nick’s waist, “Yes I did.”

She sang along with the next words: “ _I don’t want to be anywhere if it’s not with you_.”

 Nick twirled her under his arm, Judy had never felt like she was the most graceful dancer but at the moment she felt downright elegant. “ _If I could howl, how I would_.”

 And just like the first time they danced to this song Nick dipped her, his paws on the small of her back, one of her paws clutching his shoulder as she let Nick hold them both up. Their noses were touching and they both wore wide smiles, their eyes shining.

 It was Nick who sang along this time: “ _You make me feel feelings I never knew I could_.”

            When the first dance was over Bonnie hurried over to give Judy her bouquet so she could throw it before the party continued, Judy’s siblings and many of her single friends and relatives crowded in front of her, ready to get as much help as they could get when it came to getting married.

 Laughing Judy turned so her back faced them and threw it over her shoulder the hardest she could manage. The bouquet danced across the crowd’s grasping paws before finally falling at the end of the crowd, and dropping right into Clawhauser’s paws.

 

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            Hours later Nick was sure his feet had never felt so sore. He and Judy hadn’t just danced with each other. She had shared a dance with her still sniffling father and some of her brothers, Nick sharing a dance with his mother and Bonnie. They were also asked to dance by non relatives, Judy sharing a dance with Finnick, Sven, Clawhauser, even Bogo and it was incredibly amusing to watch (she also shared a dance with Gideon and if Nick hadn’t just married her he would’ve been jealous). Even Nick was asked to dance by Winter, some members of the ZPD, and even Gazelle, he hoped Judy hadn’t noticed his mild start struck look when he had danced with the singer.

 But the recipient over now and Nick and Judy, still dressed up in their wedding clothes, arrived at their honeymoon destination.

Originally Judy had thought of staying at a comfy bed and breakfast in Bunnyburrow, Nick personally not carrying where they went as long as they went somewhere. But Fru Fru and Clawhauser had refused to let them do something so mediocre, instead they had collected money from all the guests and made them a reservation at Jungle Paradise, a five star luxury resort in the heart of the Rainforest District.

 They two were led by a friendly jaguar to the top floor, taking in the impressive architecture and the arrays of exotic plants and important looking guests.

The jaguar left them in a very large room, a large oval shaped bed with floral-covered comforters were the first thing they saw. And there was a large flat screen TV hanging from the wall, a round coffee table covered in assorted gift baskets of flowers and sweets. To their right the wall consisted of large thick glass, beyond it they could see the landscape of the rainforest below and beyond that was the rest of Zootopia.

            “This is amazing!” Judy cheered, hurrying over to the table top to pick up a pamphlet and looking over it.

 “They have so many activities here!” Judy cooed while Nick went to examine the bathroom (his favorite part was how _big_ the tub was).

 “They have scavenger hunts,” Judy told him, reading the pamphlet as Nick returned to her side. “Oh, we’d be so good at that! And they have spa treatments, you’d enjoy that I think, oh gosh tomorrow is _karaoke night_ we’re totally going to do that!”

She went on for a few minutes before taking note Nick hadn’t said a word, she looked up at him to see he was smiling at her with his trade mark half lidded eyes and cocked eyebrow.

 “What?” she asked.

 “Those all sound great,” Nick told her. “But first, could I _please_ just cuddle with my brand new wife.”

 “Oh, oh of course!” Judy dropped the pamphlet and quickly ran over to climb onto the bed. Nick chuckling softly as she tried to make herself look presentable in her slightly wrinkled wedding dress.

 She leaned back on her paws, her legs crossed and trying to look sophisticated and seductive. Nick crawled onto the bed and pulled her into his arms, burying his face in her neck.

 “Oh,” she repeated as he gently eased her onto her back, “You did just want to cuddle.”

He smirked, “Yeah, I need some time to let my mind process.”

 “Process?” she echoed, taking note how her neck felt slightly damp.

“I married my Carrots,” he slightly sang the words, his voice breathless yet triumphant. “I married my Carrots.”  Judy chuckled and rubbed her paw across his arm. “Of course you married me, remember the vows and rings and the fact I’m in a wedding dress… You married your Carrots.”

 Nick’s eyes suddenly widened, “I almost forgot!”

 “Forgot what?” Judy asked as Nick pulled one of his arms off her and reached his paw into his pocket.

 “We need to memorialize this occasion with a photo,” Nick told her, pulling out his brand new phone.

“We took photos at the wedding,” she reminded him.

 “We didn’t take a zelfie,” Nick said. “Plus this would be the first picture I take with this new phone; I want it to be special.

 He held the phone up, its screen showing the two. Nick pulled his lips back, “The very first zelfie of the brand new, one of a kind, Mr. and Mrs. Wilde-Hopps.”

            The picture would be brought up many times after that, becoming the phone’s wallpaper and a right to bragging whenever the wedding was brought up. It showed a rabbit and a fox, their wedding clothes slightly askew, their fur slightly messy from hours of dancing and being congratulated by their loved ones, it showed the bunny turning her head at the very last second to place an endearing kiss on the fox’s cheek. The fox was smiling wide, his teeth flashing but not even the meekest of prey could find any threat with those fangs, not while said fox’s emerald green eyes were shining like they were actual jewels, full of love as he had one arm slung around his bride’s waist while her paws grabbed at his chest, proving that as soon as the zelfie had been taken she would pull her brand new husband into a passionate kiss.

 In short it was a picture of two animals, from different worlds yet so alike, happy and in love, a simple picture that held an unfathomable amount of depth. Life was unpredictable and you sometimes got more bad than good, but that didn’t matter to the rabbit and fox anymore, they would face it together, because they were in love, and they were officially, and forevermore- _Nick and Judy Wilde-Hopps_.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                    

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
